


Head in the Clouds

by SuddenPainter



Series: Nightcall [5]
Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Clouds takeover, Eventual Fluff, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Light Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:08:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29646246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuddenPainter/pseuds/SuddenPainter
Summary: Panam comes to Judy’s help after the takeover of Clouds, when the techie realises she doesn’t know what to do after her initial plan succeeds. In their search for the new head of security for Clouds, they meet some interesting characters.Takes place after Pisces.A multi-chapter story, part of the Nightcall series. Can be read on it’s own, but will have a bunch of callbacks to previous stories.
Relationships: Judy Alvarez/Original Female Character(s), Panam Palmer & V, Panam Palmer/V
Series: Nightcall [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128197
Comments: 30
Kudos: 78





	1. Crying Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended to be another one-shot, but then I’ve had a few ideas how to develop the story further, which turned into at least 3, possibly more chapters. 
> 
> Clouds takeover sounded good to begin with, but in the end the outcome was both predictable and disappointing - so we are going to fix that! I also wanted to explore the stories from different PoVs, so this one will focus primarily on Panam’s and Judy’s PoVs. V will be present, but will be generally plaything at the sidelines (which will be quite new to him, in more ways than one). 
> 
> Chapter One is all Panam. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the read!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Panam helps Judy figure out what to do about Clouds after the original takeover.

“And then he kind of just dropped the L-bomb on me!” Panam made a dropping gesture, prompting a shocked gasp from Judy. 

They were sitting bar-side at Lizzie’s. These catch-ups became a regular occurrence now. Since meeting through V, the two women had become good friends in their own right and had been meeting frequently without the merc in the picture. Panam was glad to gain a friend who was both not a nomad, for variety’s sake, and knew V well. That way, she had someone to talk to about the two most important, and often the most frustrating, parties in her life - the Aldecaldos and the gonk merc. Besides, Judy was just a really great person to be around in general, at least once she warmed up to you a bit. 

“And what did you say?” Judy leaned forward as if watching the latest episode of BD celebrity gossip coverage. 

“What could I say? I said it back.” Panam shrugged, trying her hardest to act as if it wasn’t a big deal, all the while getting excited again after remembering that moment. She had gone back to it many times since it happened, and the memory still had a very strong effect on her, both to her joy and frustration. 

“But did you mean-mean it, or just said it not to hurt his feelings?” Judy’s expression turned serious at the question. V was a very good friend of hers, after all. 

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. C’mon, you know me better than that.” The nomad shot down the implied accusation. This was clearly enough for the techie as she returned back to her happy self immediately, doing an excited spin on her bar stool. 

“I knew it! About time, you two!” She waved at the bartender. “Mateo, top-shelf liquor for us! We are celebrating!” 

“That’s not necessary… eh what the hell, why not!” Panam already found out that Judy was as stubborn as she was. If the woman wanted to celebrate - so be it. “Serious question though. Why didn’t you tell me about that BD when I asked you about V?”

“It wasn’t my place to tell. Especially as I felt you were asking because there was something going on with V, I didn’t want to make his decisions for him or get between you two. He’d do the same for me.” Thinking of what V would and wouldn’t do got the Mox thinking about something else that has been on her mind a lot lately, her heart sinking as the thoughts got swirling in her head. 

“Judes, you got all sad on me all of a sudden. What are you worried about? Did V do something again?” 

“Yeah… I mean no, he hadn’t done anything wrong, the opposite, in fact… I don’t know if he told you, but he helped me liberate Clouds - the doll house where Evelyn used to work.” Panam could see Judy getting progressively more upset as she kept thinking about whatever was to do with this Clouds place. 

“V mentioned something briefly, and I remember you said something about some Treeman guy who was a complete scumbag a while back…” 

“Woodman, yeah,” Judy chuckled lightly. “He worked in the same place. V helped me deal with that asshole too, but this was before. We managed to take over Clouds after that, but it all kind of went to shit and I don’t know what to do now.” 

“Who did you take it back from, exactly?”

“Tyger Claws.” The response prompted a barely edible ‘Oh’ from the nomad as if confirming the situation was indeed dire. “Yeah, exactly. We are in deep shit with them now, a retaliation coming any day probably. We have no bodies to protect it, and the combat chips can only go that far…” 

‘Combat chips?’ Panam thought to herself but decided to ask less important questions later. 

“What about the Mox, isn’t this right up their alley to protect the dolls?”

“I thought so too, but Suzie doesn’t want to start a war with the Claws. Says holding two forts between Clouds and here will be impossible. Chewed me out for interfering there at all, in fact.” 

A heavy silence hung between them. Panam briskly nodded at Mateo when the bartender started to approach them, a common sign for ‘need refill, don’t need questions’. She used the time it took for the drinks to arrive and them being alone again to consider the situation. 

“This just won’t do.” She said finally. “Say the attack is gonna happen anyway, how many bodies do you think it will take for Tyger Claws to realise it may not be worth it?” 

“I don’t know?” Judy was astonished at the question, she didn’t get as far as a war of attrition as an option. “Probably a lot, they have a lot of grunts.” 

“How about we head over there, to see what happens. Perhaps we can talk it out with them if they pay a visit. If they decide to be unreasonable, then we can find out how much they think Clouds is worth to them. I’ll call V, ask for backup.” 

“V has already helped me so much with this though, I can’t keep asking him to stick his neck out for me on this again…”

“You say it as if you’ve never met him. Risking his hide for others is like a life mission for that guy.” They both laughed. 

“Did we hear something about busting Tyger Claws?!” Rita Wheeler leaned into their booth with a grin. 

“Shhh not that loud, Suzie will hear.” Judy hisses at her as the bouncer and her front door partner land on the two adjacent barstools. 

“So what was that about busting Tyger Claws?” Rita repeats in a mocking hush-hush whisper tone, leaning against the bar. “And this is Mia by the way.” She nods at the other bouncer. “You need any help?”

“We do in fact!” Panam started.

“We do but we are not risking you getting hurt.” Judy cut the nomad off with a raised hand. “Plus Suzie will kill you if she finds out.”

“I don’t see what the harm is, we both are done for the day anyway” Rita shrugs. “We’ll just be hanging out with some lovely ladies, if shit goes down - we were just ‘defending ourselves’” She made air quotes, Mia snickering at the remark. “So, Alvarez. Are you gonna cut us in or not?” 

With a defeated sigh, Judy set out to re-explain the situation to the two bouncers. 

——

“That’s a cool rig you got back there.” Panam twisted to look in the back of Judy’s van as they were on the way to Clouds.

“Yeah, all custom-built for the road. Shame the rest of the ride is two steps away from the scrapyard.” Judy shrugged.

“Don’t be so harsh on it, it looks rusty for sure, but I see all structural parts are intact. A bit of elbow grease and some mods and it will be a preem ride.” The mechanic inside the nomad has started to run wild. She was already mentally placing where the new control centre can go, and whether they should convert it to electric or keep it running on NHCT fuel. CrystalDome was a certainty, given the techie’s main occupation. “In fact, why don’t you swing by the camp some time, I am sure we can help you with it.”

“Pan, I don’t have that kind of scratch. Do you think I’d be riding this if I did?” 

“We can worry about that later. Plus, last time I heard, you now own a legitimate business!” The nomad winked at the techie, prompting the other woman to make a face. 

“If it doesn’t get shot up to pieces first.” 

——

Clouds looked very much ‘business as usual’ when they arrived. Judy had a brief exchange with Jino, the girl at the front desk, to explain why they would need to keep their weapons. The receptionist nodded, although Panam could see that the woman was concerned. 

“If you see Tyger Claws, just let Judy know, but don’t do anything yourself - okay?” The nomad told the blue-haired woman before following Judy into Clouds. 

They were greeted by Tom who looked like the only muscle around, brandishing a submachine gun. One look at him showed that this wasn’t his main occupation or forte in general, however, his stance was reminiscent of a professional guard. ‘Is this guy spotting one of those combat chips Judy mentioned?’ Panam thought. 

A few minutes later they were joined by Rita and Mia who took some time to pack their gear back at Lizzie’s. Both Moxes spotted baseball bats, which they promptly hid behind the bar as the menacing weapons clearly unnerved the customers. Unlike the patrons who kept their distance from the group, anyone who worked at Clouds made sure to come and say hi to Judy and her friends, regarding the techie with almost reverence. 

“You are really seen as the liberator here, aren’t you?” Panam teased her friend. 

Tom filled them in on the status so far: mostly, nothing out of the ordinary was happening. They had a power surge the other day and the cameras seemed to be going funny at times, but he insisted it was nothing serious. 

“And you call this nothing serious? You clearly have a netrunner messing with your systems. They clearly ain’t a good netrunner, otherwise, you wouldn’t notice anything at all, but it’s still suspicious as hell.” Judy scolded him for being so naive. 

“You were right then, Claws are going to try something soon.” Panam’s brows furrowed. Judy nodded. 

“If that’s the case, I need to secure the network.” She stood up, Panam followed suit. 

“I’ll go with you, keep you company.” 

The two women went upstairs to the office where one of the main access points was located. 

“So, do you want to tell me what went wrong with your original plan?” Panam saw the techie let out a sigh from under the desk where she was fiddling with the wires.

“I put my trust into someone I shouldn’t have,” she spoke after a pause, “We had a history together, I thought it would count for something. I was wrong.” 

Panam raised an eyebrow. “Was it good history though?” 

“It wasn’t, not really.” Judy took another pause to answer, concentrating on connecting the right wires. “I really should have known.” 

“Well… what’s done is done, but I am not gonna sugar coat it for you, girl… Quite a situation you got yourself into here.” 

Judy pushed herself from under the table, an annoyed look on her face. “And you think I don’t know that?! I’ve been telling you that all along!” 

Panam rested her head on her hand, deep in thought, prompting a “What?” from Judy who was still looking at the nomad. 

“It may not be too late to fix this. I need to make a call.” With that, she stepped out of the office into the dim corridor. 

‘What Judy needs is someone experienced in defending their turf,’ Panam thought. The tricky part was to find someone trustworthy enough. She dialled up Dakota, the nomad fixer who had plenty of dealings with Night City residents, despite her allegiances to Aldecaldos and other clans. 

“What can I do for you, sister?” The fixer’s tone was as usual somewhere between mysterious and disinterested. 

“Dakota, would you happen to know anyone who has access to some muscle and looking for permanent employment in NC?” The older woman only slightly raised an eyebrow to convey her surprise at the question. 

“I may have, but do you want to tell me what is this about first?”

“A mutual acquaintance of V and I need somebody to keep peace at a club of sorts which recently… came under new management.” 

“It’s about that Mox and Clouds isn’t it?” What could Panam say, of course, fixers would be on top of things like this. “Were you planning to tell me it would involve an imminent Tyger Claws retaliation as part of the job?” Before the younger nomad could respond, the fixer continued. “As it happens, I do have someone in mind for that. Let me talk to them first before I promise anything. I’ll be in touch.”

“Sure, thanks a lot, Dakota. I owe you one.” Panam nodded into the holo before hanging up. 

——

When Panam returned back to check up on Judy, the techie was just finishing diagnostics on the system, when the intercom on the table came to life. 

“Judy, are you there?” Jino’s voice sounded worried. “A bunch of Tyger Claws just walked into the Megabuilding. They look heavily armed.” 

“Fuck! Didn’t think they’d come so soon.” Judy was nervously staring into the camera feeds she pulled up on the computer. “Jino, get out of there. Grab all the dolls and get to the upper floor, all customers can take the VIP lift down. Warn Tom and others at the bar!” She turned to Panam. “Any news from V?”

“Nothing, he never answered my texts either. He did say he was investigating something with that detective…” Panam tried V again but she only got an ‘unable to reach user’ notification from the network. She’d be worried for V if she didn’t already have all of this to worry about first. “No luck, we are on our own for now.” 

The two women rushed back to join the others in the bar. Tom was clearly nervous, while the Moxes were just burning for a fight. On Panam’s directions, they emptied a large sex toy stand of its contents and leaned it sideways to create a barricade. Tom and Panam were to use it to create a choke point while Rita and Mia were to guard the other entrance which put them at an advantage with their clubs. Judy hid behind the bar, laptop at her side, updating the rest with the Claw’s movements and ready to shoot at anybody who comes through. 

The first gangster to come through the door got a round of bullets from Tom, who gave a whimper as recoil hit his shoulder. The doll was clearly unsettled by killing people, yet his body was steady as if controlled by a completely different brain. Panam wasn’t sure if this combat stim thing was brilliant or terrifying. She made another mental note to talk to Judy about this later. 

Panam brandished the tech rifle that V picked up as spoils from their revenge raid on Nash and his Raffen gang. Despite its origin, the nomad had to admit the weapon was scarily good in indoor firefights, easily hitting through two or even three walls. Most enemies would have no idea where the shot come from  _ if _ they somehow survived it. Panam picked it up from her truck before leaving Lizzie’s - the merc stashed it there as a backup. She chose this rifle over her shotgun cannon as to not level the club entirely; at least this one left single holes, rather than blasting new openings in walls.

Tyger Claws were now pouring into the club’s main entrance, shooting blindly into the corridor. Panam used cover fire provided by Tom to line up shots at cowering grunts, easily picking them one by one as long as she could see their outlines through the x-ray scope. 

Rita and Mia were busy too, picking off those Tygers who managed to make it to the other end of the corridor, foolishly thinking they were in the clear. Panam could only see a little at the edge of her vision, but she could have sworn she saw Rita break someone’s neck by driving her bat into their face. 

“Take that, you piece of filth!” Mia’s voice yelled into the shared holo link, followed by a loud smack immediately after as her bat found its fleshy target. 

“Pan, we’ve got a problem,” Judy spoke into her ear on a private channel. “They got into Maiko’s, I mean the main office upstairs. There was a secret door there; I thought I had it sealed but they got through it anyway.”

“Ok. How many and how do I get there?” 

“Give me a sec to get a visual…” The techie paused, probably concentrating on the screens. “It looks like just one person, Pan. That makes no sense though…”

“It just means they are fucking dangerous. Let the girls upstairs know so they stay low. Let’s hope Tom can handle this on his own.” Pan tapped Tom’s shoulder, letting him know she needed to go somewhere. If the guy looked unsettled and scared before, now he just looked like an abandoned puppy. The nomad squeezed his shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod, which helped somewhat as he nodded back and returned to looking into the scope of his rifle. 

She made her way up the stairs to the VIP section before pushing a secret latch Judy told her about to get into an adjacent stairway that led further up. She moved very slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible, keeping her back to the wall. As she got to the corridor on the top of the stairs, rifle at the ready, she spotted the intruder. 

In a second she had to think before the stranger charged at her at full speed, Panam noted how they looked nothing like the Tyger Claws downstairs. Instead of gaudy, bright suits and synth-leather jackets, this one was clad in all black, except for silver teeth on the kabuki mask that covered their face. An image of a ‘street ninja’ from the old screamsheets from her childhood floated in the nomad’s mind before she steeled it a moment later, opening fire at her fast approaching opponent. ‘Fuck, he is too fast,’ she realised. The ninja was now launching at her, mantis blades sprung in attack position aiming straight at Panam’s chest. Realising she had no other choice, she pushed the trigger of the tech rifle halfway to start charging, but instead of firing, she blocked with it instead, letting the attacker’s blades sink into the electrified barrel. 

Sparks flew from the gun, sending visible waves of energy down the mantis blades, prompting the ninja to scream in pain as the shock attacked their circuits. This creative defence probably zeroed the rifle, but Panam would worry about that later. The force of the collision sent her flying backwards; it took her a second to reach for her pistol and knife before pushing herself back on her feet. 

Unfortunately, her oopponent was also back up, holding a tanto in his good hand, the other clearly damaged with the blade stuck in a half-retracted position. Panam quickly fired at him, unsure if any bullets connected as he dodged from side to side swiftly. Intuitively, she deflected an incoming slice from the enemy blade with her knife, wincing slightly as the force of the blow reverberated in her elbow. She had to finish this, and quickly - close-quarters combat was not one of her strong suits. 

Remembering something V told her when Vik was setting merc’s own mantis blades after he managed to wreck them, again, she lodged her pistol in the gap left by the half-opened blade and pulled up as hard as she could. This certainly produced the desired effect - the ninja wailed in pain as the malfunctioning cybernetics pulled at his flesh tendons while also assaulting the neural processors at the same time. His other hand went limp for a second, creating an opening Panam needed to lodge her knife right into his chest. Panting, the nomad looked over as her opponent’s limp body dropped to the floor. After pulling her knife out with a disgusting squelch, she couldn’t help but slide the mask off to have a look at her opponent. 

To her surprise, ‘he’ turned out to be a woman, a girl really. ‘Shit, is it one of those Razorgirs?’ She thought. This one must have been a novice, otherwise, Panam wouldn’t stand a chance in these circumstances. Tyger Claws probably cheapened out, as an experienced Razorgirl would cost a fortune to hire. 

“Panam, you okay?? I can’t see you on the screens!” Judy’s voice echoed in her ear. 

“Yeah, I am fine, just about.” Still panting, the nomad grabbed what was left of the rifle and started to make her way back down the stairs. “What’s the situation down there?” 

“I think we got them all this time,” the techie said with a tired sigh of relief. 

——

Downstairs was much messier than how Panam left it. They would probably need to change floors and a bunch of wall paint to get rid of the blood, guts and chrome oil splattered all over the place. She found the rest of their ragtag party recovering back in the bar area, dolls busy tending to their wounds. Tom looked at least five shades paler, bloody bandages covering his shoulder and side. The two Moxes were surprisingly unscathed - just a bunch of light bruises and bullet-glance cuts, as if they just came out of a busy night manning the front door, and not repelling a gang onslaught. 

Judy was still busy on the laptop, scrolling through the camera feeds continuously, making sure it was really over. Panam made her way to sit next to the techie. 

“Hey, we really did it.” She gently put a hand on Judy’s shoulder, prompting the other woman to finally turn to her. 

“We did, didn’t we? Although just about. You don’t look so good, and Tom barely made it out alive.” With guilt plastered all over her face, she looked at her injured friends. “Not sure we’ll be so lucky next time.” 

“Ah, give it a rest, will ya? We have at least a couple of days until the Claws figure out what to do next. Their favourite method of chucking bodies at the problem clearly hasn’t worked, so they will likely take a while to figure out what to do instead. By that time, we’ll get our own muscle and figure out a plan to get them off our backs.” Needing to cheer up the mopey woman gave Panam a second wind of energy she thought was fully depleted in her fight with the ninja girl. 

As they sat in silence for a minute, someone approached the door. Four gun barrels immediately aimed in one direction, prompting V to raise his hands in shock. 

“Woah woah, calm down, all of you. I got here as soon as I could, but I guess I missed the party.”

“Yeah, you did.” Panam now channelled her remaining energy into frustration at V. “And where the fuck have you been?! I called you like five times!”

V sighed, slowly lowering his hands. A mix of grief and disgust marked his face. “Worst. Farm trip. Ever.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> This is my first time writing women’s PoVs so any feedback and suggestions is very welcome. 
> 
> Next chapter will have them meet their prospective candidates and have both Panam’s and Judy’s PoVs.
> 
> Title: Crying Lightning by Arctic Monkeys


	2. Firewater Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy and Panam meet potential candidates for Clouds security.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter picks up the next day after Chapter 1. We will switch between Panam’s and Judy’s PoVs for this one. 
> 
> V is very much present, but totally sidelined here, and I think it works very well. Don’t worry, he’ll get more things to do later on. 
> 
> Enjoy the read!

Panam woke up to a notification from Dakota. She rubbed her still sleepy eyes, pushing away lingering echoes of the weird-as-hell dream she’d had. ‘Shouldn’t have asked V about his day before sleep,’ she thought, vaguely remembering dreaming about dancing cows and murderous fairies. 

Reluctantly, the nomad disentangled herself from her still-sleeping lover. She planted a soft kiss on his forehead before heading out of the tent and pulling up the dossier file that the fixer sent over. 

The prospective head of security for Clouds was actually a nomad, which was a big surprise. Panam was considered the most city-happy of the nomads, but even she would never in her right mind consider settling for a permanent security job. All of this wasn’t necessarily a red flag, but she would definitely want to dig deeper into the motivation there. 

The second surprise was the rest of the muscle that would come with the said nomad - according to their bios they were all from the same clan, Bakkers. The hiccup here was that Bakkers didn’t exist anymore - as far as Panam knew, they were absorbed by a much larger Snake Nation clan. She double-checked the timestamps, which were definitely up-to-date. So far these bios had created more questions than given answers. 

The good news was that Panam would find it easier to read nomads, even if these particular ones seemed to be an odd bunch. On top of that, the leader was an ex-quartermaster for Bakkers, which meant she was both dependable, and good with money and supplies. Tom or Judy could help her get into the doll house part of the business, but surely running the rest would be easier than making sure an entire family of nomads was well fed, armed and fuelled. 

Dakota clearly saved the sauciest part for last. When Panam opened the final attachment, it turned out to be a set of NCPD arrest reports for everyone in the group. The charge was all the same: ‘Transport and smuggling of illegal wildlife in or out of Night City.’ She snickered, wondering what kind of ‘wildlife’ they were trying to smuggle. 

All of this had definitely peeked the nomad chieftess’ interest, but she still had many questions that only a face-to-face meeting could resolve. Of course, it also wasn’t really up to her to make the final decision - she would do her best to advise, but ultimately, Judy had the final word. 

<Dakota, these look promising. Can you set up a meeting?>

Panam just finished her morning coffee when the holo beeped with a reply. 

<Of course. The usual spot?>

<Why not. How about tonight at 7?>

By the time the fixer confirmed, Panam was already back at her tent, busy poking V awake. Since he was already neck-deep involved in this mess, she may as well take him with for the rest of the ride. 

——

Judy had not slept at all. Every time she would force herself to sleep, dreams of her friends being shot up at Clouds by a never-ending tide of Tyger Claws kept invading her head. After the third unsuccessful attempt, she dragged herself out of bed and tried to catch up on some BD edits instead. That didn’t work either. She had to give up after messing up yet another transition when her thoughts drifted back into the ‘what’s gonna happen with Clouds’ territory. She now found herself inhaling smoke on the rooftop of her building, finally getting some resemblance of clarity in her head. She was tempted to call V, but resisted as she knew that he was with Panam, both of them sleeping off their respective adventures. 

The techie’s thoughts turned to the mysterious candidates for Clouds’ security that Panam’s fixer supposedly had lined up for them. Pan said she’ll get more details in the morning, so Judy had nothing to go on at all, which opened the gateway for her imagination to go wild. She wondered what kind of people would knowingly choose to guard a doll house that was firmly in the sights of a gang like the Claws, while also not belonging to any other gang themselves. After all, she was not interested in handing Clouds over from one group of exploiting masters to another. She wasn’t worried about the doll-side of the business - Tom was perfectly capable to do that, just as Maiko had in the past, minus the scheming and the emotional torture of everyone involved. 

Her ideal candidate would be someone like V, of course - honest, capable and dependable to a fault, but that was a pipe dream. V was certainly not interested, he would have said something otherwise. Plus he was still just one man. A one-man army when he needed to be, Judy saw that firsthand, but he still couldn’t be in all places at once. It was one thing to storm a scav hideout, where all enemies are focused on you, and completely other when you may need to focus on multiple sources of trouble at once. V had enough acquaintances among the mercs and solos to get more bodies on the ground, but she doubted how committed they could really be. 

Then there was the whole question of her plan to leave Night City. This was perhaps her biggest oversight of all. Somewhere between trying to ensure Evie’s fate would never fall on anyone else and never having enough belief in herself she could actually leave the city, Judy had completely missed the conflicting nature of her two commitments. 

One thing that was certainly on her side, she thought, were the people around her. V was just one of them; Panam had come out of nowhere to step in and help her out, Tom had committed beyond what she expected and even Rita and Mia remained keen to give her a hand where they could. Almost everyone else at Clouds was incredibly supportive too: Jino had gone above and beyond her normal duties, taking on a lot of paperwork and timekeeping duties that were normally done by Maiko; Roxy stepped in to manage payroll, even though she strictly declined to participate in any more bloodshed; other dolls helped out as well, from booking appointments at ripperdocs for others to flagging any miscreants to Tom who still spotted the combat chip. Thinking of all these people, who aligned themselves with her goal reminded Judy why she had done it in the first place and reinvigorated her determination to see this through. 

Her departure from Night City could wait. After all, she now had people who depended on her for protection and others who committed to helping - she couldn’t ditch any of them. She surely wasn’t Lizzie Borden, but she’d be damned if she let her little rebellion fade into nothing because she couldn’t follow through. 

——

The next evening Judy found herself riding shotgun in Panam’s warhorse, tired from lack of sleep, but pumped up full of adrenaline over the prospect of meeting those who may become her new partners at Clouds. The nomad filled her in on the details on the way, prompting largely the same reaction from the techie that Panam’d had in the morning: surprise coupled with mild confusion and deep interest. 

V was driving behind them in his Avenger. Judy wondered why he picked this car over the usual favourites, settling on a conclusion that it must have been powerful and rugged enough to impress the nomads, but not an actual nomad car to make him look like some wannabe. She felt that sometimes the merc was putting way too much thought into how he is perceived by others as if someone was always watching him. ‘Someone  _ is _ always watching him, though,’ she quickly corrected herself at the memory of Johnny-fucking-Silverhand co-habiting V-s brain. 

She looked at the nomad, carefreely whistling a tune as the passed slow-moving cars. “Hey, Pan. Can I ask you a question?” 

“Sure, what is it?” The nomad shot her a quick glance before focusing back on the road.

“How do you just get this kind of shit done? I mean, we barely talked for 10 minutes about it back at the bar and the next thing I know we are driving to meet a bunch of people who may be able to help us out. You make it look so easy…” She trailed off, not finishing the remained of her thought that would otherwise end with ‘I wish I could be like that.’ 

“Simple!” Panam’s voice was full of enthusiasm, “haven’t I told you about my ‘Triple As’? Approach, Assembly, Action. That and an occasional cold beer is all you need to get shit done in your life. This is how I’ve done almost every gig in my life, including all the madness with V.” Her genuine smile told Judy she wasn’t pulling her leg. 

“Is it really that simple?”

“Well, I didn’t say it was always simple. Even right now, it’s been almost two days and we are still at the Assembly stage. It can still all go to shit too, but if it does - we will just regroup, and start again.” Her enthusiasm was infectious. Judy couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s optimism. 

——

They arrived at the Sunset Motel a bit earlier than expected, so they were the first. ‘Good.’ Panam thought. This gave them the advantage to park with the sun in their backs. Plus, for no particular reason, she always preferred the garage side of the car park anyway. 

They agreed previously that Panam and Judy will be doing the talking, the nomad getting the initial feel for their would-be partners, while Judy would ask any specific questions that only she could really figure out, and anything she’d need to know to be happy to throw hers in with this lot. V was going to just ‘hang back and look pretty’, as Panam put it. At that thought, she gave her merc a mocking-pity look, only to get a far less convincing fake-upset look back. Judy had already offered them her waterside cabin as a reward for the help, so he really had nothing to complain about here. The nomad’s thoughts drifted into a daydream, transporting her to the little pier overlooking still water…

She had to reluctantly snap herself back to reality when the noise of a trio of rumbling engines reached her ears. In the next moment, she saw them - three nomad-spec vehicles pulling into the car park. She didn’t need V’s implants to identify the first two: one was a fire-red Javelina, the other - a lightly armoured Thornton that looked well-kept but dwarfed in comparison to her warhorse. The third vehicle was a complete surprise though. ‘Is that… a modded Outlaw?’ She glanced back at V who shared her surprise, which was visible even through the mirrored aviators he had on now. Panam could bet money that the merc was already considering converting his own Herrera. She glanced at Judy, the techie shuffling from one leg to another, stressing over the meeting itself and clearly oblivious to the two car nerds’ excitement. 

As far as the first impressions went, these guys nailed it. 

——

This must have been the first time in months that Judy stepped out of Night City limits. Only occasions she remembered all involved her going to the secluded cabin by the reservoir. The sun here was much brighter and more scorching, winds harsher. She felt exposed with all of this open space for miles, even when they were standing next to some semblance of civilization in a form of the low-slung motel. Hell, she didn’t even own sunglasses. 

She didn’t want to show it, but she was on edge ever since they set off in Panam’s truck towards the Badlands. The three of them discussed who would be doing what beforehand. Judy knew more about running a doll house than Panam or V put together, there was no question there. The issue was that they knew zilch, and her advantage over them wasn’t great, or at least so she thought. The feelings that she was well over her head returned in waves, and with them the dreaded feeling that she was dragging her friends down a rabbit hole with her. 

All of her feelings, thoughts and worries almost bubbled up to the surface when they approached the hotel car park. She was extremely close to letting Panam and V do the meeting, hide in the back of the truck and try her darndest to not be noticed. Her nomad friend clearly saw through her facade ages ago, because before she stepped out of the car, she turned to Judy, covering the techie’s hand with hers. 

“Judes, don’t wind yourself up so much.” The nomad’s chocolate-brown eyes radiated warmth and care. Judy could see why V melted into a puddle every time Pan gave him ‘the look’. “It’s just a meeting. Whatever happens, happens - there is no wrong answer here. If it doesn’t work out, there could be a hundred reasons why - very few of them could ever be your fault. Just see how it goes, okay?” 

“O-okay, I’ll try.” Judy said sheepishly, before composing herself. “I will. These guys want to work with me after all,” she stated firmly, more to herself than to the woman in front of her. 

“That’s my girl!” Panam beamed. “Let’s go see what these Bakkers are made of, shall we?” 

——

The nomads arrived shortly, all five of them stepping out of their vehicles almost in unison. It was immediately clear as day who the leader was - she had her own vehicle, the most heavily modified and menacing-looking one of the three; others had to share. Even if it wasn’t for the vehicle, Judy could just  _ see _ authority radiate from her, in spite of her looks that could suggest otherwise. She was slender and beautiful, moved with what could only be described as dignified grace, which was unusual for anyone who wasn’t a third-generation elite corpo. ‘She’d make Maiko look like a street hustler,’ Judy caught herself making an involuntary comparison to the failed would-be ruler of the Clouds. 

“Hey, you must be who I am here to meet, Panam, the fierce new chieftess of the Aldecaldos.” The newcomer merc spoke first with a husky voice and a mild accent that Judy didn’t recognise. “And that over there is V, the famed altruistic merc of Night City…” She turned to look at Judy, her eyebrow raised. “And you, miss. I am sorry, but I don’t believe I’ve had a chance to hear about you, which is a great shame.” 

Before slightly flustered Judy could answer, Panam spoke back first. “This is Judy, the newly appointed proprietor of Clouds, one of the highest-grade doll houses of Night City. B-plus for homework, Valerie of the Bakkers. Or should I say, Snake Nation at this point?” 

Valerie’s companions were clearly displeased by Panam’s obvious provocation, but their leader didn’t move a muscle in response. After a pause, she gently raised her hand to ask one of the nomads to lower the half-raised weapon before responding. 

“We are not Snake Nation, and we are not Bakkers exiles either, in case you were wondering. Whatever the other fools from our clan decided to do with their own lives, we five decided to have no part in it, so we left. As far as we are concerned, we are the last of the Bakkers left, and we will do everything we can to retain our independence and regain our strength.” 

“Would that also include setting up roots in the depths of a concrete jungle that is Night City instead of roaming the free plains like a true nomad?” Panam raised an eyebrow, her interrogation clearly not over. 

“A true nomad can live anywhere, adapt to anything. Out of anyone, I would expect you to know that. After all, you’ve met your output after a stint in Night City, haven’t you, Aldecaldo?” Valerie sparred back, nodding in V’s direction. 

Judy would think the situation was heating up if it wasn’t for Panam and V who remained perfectly calm as if this was just a completely normal way to greet new people. 

A prolonged pause hung between the two nomads, who kept looking at each other intently, waiting for the other to speak first. Then Panam let out a genuine, hearty laugh. 

“You, you are good, Valerie.” She turned to the Mox, “Hey Judy, should we talk business now?” 

Judy nodded, still not entirely sure what was happening exactly. 

“Sure thing,” Valerie responded before Judy could respond herself. “But do you mind if we don’t do it in the middle of the car park like some scavs scared to be busted peddling faulty chrome? I heard the bar here is pretty good.” 

“It is indeed, that’s why I like this place so much.” Panam smiled before turning to her friend to get her approval. 

Judy nodded and all of them made their way upstairs to the motel bar. 

——

A few drinks in and the nomads looked like they’ve known each other forever. Panam had easily got on with the rest of Valerie’s crew, arguing, joking, discussing this and that. V joined in as well, particularly when the group got to discussing gigs, guns and cars. The extensive time the merc spent around nomads was clearly not wasted; if Judy didn’t know better, she would think he was one of them. 

After the initial conversation about the general situation with Clouds, Panam left Judy to go into details with the Bakkers leader on her own. The techie felt abandoned for a second, but the reassuring nod from Pan told her that this was a vote of confidence above anything else. 

Judy and Valerie, who preferred to go by Val, exchanged general outlines of their respective life stories as means of introduction. The BD editor shared her history with the Clouds and involvement with the Mox and her current residence at Lizzie’s bar. She had briefly explained how she came to know V and Panam, completely omitting Evelyn from her story; there was no way she would share that with someone she’d only just met. 

In turn, the nomad shared how her clan, the Bakkers, came to be under Snake Nation’s influence, eventually culminating in their leader giving in and agreeing to merge. She was surprisingly open when discussing the fallout of her decision to split as a family offshoot, rather than leaving the clan altogether and gave a brief summary of who each of her companions was. From her description, Judy got the impression that they were all good, dependable people, but she wasn’t sure how much of that could she really trust. Valerie happily explained how the lot of them got roped into smuggling some iguanas and snakes across the border and how they got caught, briefly pulling in Panam and V, whose ears perked up as soon as Judy asked about the bust. The other nomads chipped in with their own details and opinions on the story, prompting light-hearted arguments as to whose fault it really was and whether they would get away if one of them was a better driver. 

On their third drink, Judy realised there was still a lot to discuss and she refused to talk biz intoxicated, so she cut to the chase. 

“Valerie, Val… I will put it straight to you - I like you and your crew. I don’t have much to go on, but my gut feel says you are a good bunch and you will stand by what you commit to doing.” After realising the rest of the group stopped their chatter and was intently listening to what she had to say, Judy continued. “I am sure there are a lot of smaller things to discuss, but you now know all the key things about the Clouds situation, and I feel like I know enough about you and your clansmen to make my decision. So… before we all get completely drunk, I want to make you an offer.” She paused to see if anyone had anything else to say. When everyone kept their silence, she continued. “As such, if you five are willing to commit to keeping security at Clouds, even with the potential threat of more Tyger Claw retaliation, agree to keep the dolls and customers safe from outsiders, each other and, sometimes, themselves - then we got a deal.” 

The four Bakkers raised their glass with a loud cheer, ready to toast to the new partnership when Val raised her hand, cutting them off. “Wait, you impatient fools. She hadn’t told us the full terms yet.” 

Judy smiled at her in thanks. “Indeed I have not, but I hope you will be pleased with it. I intend for us to be partners so that you feel like your efforts have long term benefits for you, as well as the club. So, I want to offer you a share of the profits. Five of you can have 30% of the total take split between you, after we first pay the dolls, of course. Tom, who will run most of the dolls business, and I will take 10% each, with the rest being spent on improving the club, helping our dolls get better care and implants and whatever is left will be redistributed amongst everyone equally.” Another pause. She really wasn’t sure if this was any good of a split - she came up with it this morning and kept changing the ratios in her head throughout the day. 

Valerie rubbed her chin, her brows furrowed in thought. For a second Judy thought she was about to point out a hundred problems with her offer at once, but instead, the nomad just smiled and extended her gloved hand to the techie.

“You’ve got a deal, partner.” 

Judy shook the Bakker leader’s hand, briefly noting the warm smile and soft look the nomad gave her when their eyes met. 

Panam’s hand wrapped around techie’s shoulder, squeezing it in congratulations. “See, it all worked out.” She leaned in and whispered into Judy’s ear, “You were great. Putting out an offer like that showed guts, and they respected that. Well done.” 

Judy nodded in response, a light flush reaching her cheeks. In the next moment, V was calling out to Noah at the bar, ordering top-shelf Mezcal for the table. The Mox wondered how she would express her gratitude to her two friends who helped make all of this happen. In the end, she decided that she’d think about that later, as the drinks arrived and everyone was keen to talk to her about a thousand different things. 

——

They all ended up staying at the motel that night. Even though the Aldecaldo camp was relatively close, neither of them were in any state to drive. Noah, the proprietor, was more than happy to provide rooms for everyone at whichever bed combination they chose. Two of the Bakkers immediately asked for a double, waddling off with their arms wrapped around each other as soon as they got given keys. The other two were about to decline in favour of sleeping in their cars, but quickly reconsidered when Noah said that V was paying for everyone. This left only the four of them: Judy, Panam, V and Valerie. The techie knew how half of this group would end up, her suspicions confirmed almost immediately when her friends blurted their goodnights before rushing to their designated room. 

This left just her and Val. 

“So…” the remaining nomad played with her almost empty glass, “are you a room sharing kind of girl, Judy?” 

The direct, but still ambiguous question, got Judy flustered. It’s been a while since someone made any direct pass on her, no matter how veiled. At Lizzie’s, it was made very clear that she was out of bounds for anyone, Mox, doll or patron alike. Mateo would normally handle any would-be Romeos or Juliets when Judy was hanging out at the bar for her break, any other times the techie was more than happy to deal with any unwanted advances herself. 

This was different, somehow. 

“You know, I am spent. It’s been great meeting you. Can’t wait for you to see Clouds tomorrow!” Judy stood up, grabbing the key that Noah deftly slid her way from across the bar and waved the nomad goodbye. She didn’t miss the note of disappointment on Valerie’s face. As a consolation prize, she turned back at the woman, who still looked at her from her seat at the bar. “Maybe some other time.” 

Judy didn’t check to see the reaction on purpose - she wasn’t sure herself if she wanted to go there with someone who was about to be her business partner. At that point, the only connection she wanted to make was between her face and the pillow. She succeeded in achieving that as soon as she reached the bed, the past few days’ excitement and exhaustion washing over her in a wave that knocked her out before she could consider taking her denim overalls off. 

——

Judy found Panam leaning against her warhorse the next morning. Judging by the look of the nomad she didn’t get much sleep last night but was happier for it. 

“Morning, Pan.”

“Morning, chief negotiator Judy,” the woman winked at the still-sleepy techie. “Shall we head back?” 

“Yeah, I’ve had enough desert dust for a while.” Judy climbed into the passenger seat, thinking back at the night before. 

Panam climbed from the other side and, after punching in co-ordinates of Lizzie’s bar, fired up the truck. 

“So that went well, didn’t it?” The nomad asked the other woman, who turned pensive briefly. 

“I guess it did, but still too early to tell if it will actually work out.” 

“This Valerie woman gives me all the right vibes though, I have faith. There is one thing about her though…” 

“Have you noticed this as well?! I thought I was seeing things!” 

“That she reminds you of V from another life? I definitely see it too, sister.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... After going through the entirety of this gamer’s character list, I realised there were no suitable candidates that Judy and Panam could approve of, so I decided to bring Valerie, AKA would-be-V into the picture. Naturally, they will have very different backgrounds, but I haven’t quite decided what bonds connect them two just yet so stay tuned on that one. 
> 
> As always - thank you for reading!
> 
> Title: Firewater Friends by Queens of the Stone Age


	3. All The Pretty Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy, Panam and V meet the Bakkers properly at Clouds to agree on who does what. Introductions are made, but there is more to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be quite light on action, as there are lots of exposition and character intros to be made.

After dropping Judy at Lizzie’s, the techie still had her daytime job, after all, Panam returned to the Aldecaldo camp to get changed and to ask around about the Bakkers she’d just met. 

She made rounds through the camp, finding everyone busy going round their jobs - just another day in the Badlands. Mitch rolled from under the Basilisk when he heard her calling out to him from the entrance of the large tent. 

“Look who’s back! How’d your little meeting go?” He regarded Panam while cleaning grease off his hands and forearms. 

“Surprisingly well. The Bakkers crew are an odd bunch, but they seem like dependable, honest people.” The female nomad shrugged. She really had no reason so far to suspect otherwise. 

“Right, but you are still trying to get a feel for what they may be like, asking if anyone at the camp knows anything?” Mitch now stood in his trademark arms-crossed stance, eyebrow raised. “Where is our honorary clansman by the way?” 

“Who? V?” Panam chuckled at the way Mitch referred to her lover; it also reminded her there was something she needed to discuss with Saul on that. “V’s gone back to the club, to keep an eye on it.” 

Panam had a feeling the merc felt guilty for going AWOL on her and Judy and missing the defence of Clouds. She hadn’t told him about the wrecked rifle yet - the weapon was fixable, but it had clear markings of mantis blade cuts and she wasn’t ready to deal with being scolded for getting into a melee scuffle with a Razorgirl just yet. The merc did his best after their chat regarding his overbearing protectiveness, but even Panam’s stubbornness gave in here, she knew it was reckless of her. 

“Earth to Panam, you there?” Mitch tilted his head at her, waving his cybernetic hand slowly in front of her face to catch her attention. 

“Yes, yes. Sorry. You got it right though - I want to find out as much as I can about these guys, to give Judy some advice on how to best deal with them, if nothing else.” 

“Well, the Aldecaldos in these parts have rarely dealt with the Bakkers, so not sure how much you’re gonna find, to be honest. But who knows, worth a try. I’d ask Saul first, he might know something.” 

“Thanks, Mitch. Will do.” Panam nodded at her friend and turned on her heels towards the main camp.

——

Getting to Saul immediately proved a challenge - the nomad co-leader of hers was out on an errand with some of the veterans. Carol grumbled something about new solar panels but offered little detail so Panam assumed it was nothing interesting. 

She pinged a text to V to check up on the merc, instinctively reaching out at the lovebite on her right shoulder from last night. 

<Hey V, what’s the sitch at Clouds? All quiet?>

The merc’s answer came in the form of a selfie, his hand wrapped around an automated turret, “Tiny Tina” freshly painted on the side of the barrel in bright pink letters. 

< Look at my new friend! I’ve installed her in the lobby. Spots Skippy 2.3 software and biometric recognition! >

Panam rubbed the bridge of her nose. ‘How did I fall for this guy, again?’

< Glad you are having fun. Make sure you eat. >

< Thanks Pan <3 >

She stared at the last text for a bit, an involuntary smile taking over her face, before putting the holo away and setting towards the edge of the camp. A cloud of dust suggested the party had returned from their errand run. 

——

The sun was nearing its peak when Panam finally finished her conversation with Saul. Naturally, the older leader of the Aldecaldos had many more things to discuss with her, reminding her of her own duties and obligations to the clan. Panam wasn’t away for too long for him to accuse her of ignoring any of it, but his tone suggested he was close to taking that route soon. 

On the topic of the Bakkers, Saul didn’t have that much to offer in terms of new information. He knew what there was to know about their merger into Snake Nation from the info dumps all nomad leaders received regularly to keep them updated, but that was about it. 

Somewhat disappointed, the woman settled by the ever-burning campfire, deep in thought. 

“Don’ frown s’much, or ya gonna get as wrinkly as me before y’know it.” Cassidy settled next to her, passing her a beer. “Heard ya was feeling about for some info on some Bakkers.”

“Yeah, but it seems that nobody knows much about these ones specifically.”

“I ran with a few back in my youthful days. Who’ve you met, maybe I know ‘em?”

Panam recalled the names and distinguishing features of each of the nomads she’d met the day before to the other nomad. Four of them were too young to qualify, but one man in that group looked like he had a lot of years behind him. He had the strangest name too - Atticus Finch. 

“So you’ve met Finch, huh? I don’t know the others, but me and good ol’ Finch go way back.” Cassidy nodded. “Firstly, an advice. He hates when people call him by his first name. Saw a guy get punched for that once. Jus’ call him Finch and you’ll be good.”

Panam nodded, thinking of how protective V is of people knowing, and using his full name. 

“Anyway,” the man continued, “I’ve met Finch back when doing jobs around New Mexico oil fields… the Bakkers were never a large or powerful clan, so they often reached out for help for bigger jobs. Got a few of these doing those gigs with ‘em.” He pointed at a few scars on his arm. “Finch would lead most of these skirmishes. The guy would make a great clan leader if the way he ran the teams was anything to go by, but it didn’t seem to appeal to him in the slightest.”

So far none of this was very relevant to Panam, but she let the gunslinger continue, knowing that he usually took a roundabout way to get to the interesting bit.

  
  


“If my maths is correct, Finch would’a lived through four different Bakker leaders, and he certainly ‘ad an issue with two that were about in my time. Always challengin’ authority, that one. Kind of like someone else I know…” He gave Panam a wink to show he didn’t mean it seriously. “Why I am telling you this’s because if he chose to follow this Valerie girl, he must see something in her to do so.”

“I see. He and the others definitely listen to her commands and honour her decisions, that much was very clear.” Panam took a sip from her bottle. “Anything else you can tell me about Finch?”

“If he’s on your side, you can rely on ‘im. Good shot, too, particularly when it comes to revolvers. Had many a shootin’ comps with him. He even won some.” 

“Thanks, Cass, this is preem info right there.” The female nomad stood up, chucking the empty beer into the nearby trashcan. 

“Don’t mention it, girl. One last thing though. They must have a very, very good reason to stick it out in N-C for the long run. No matter how loyal they are to their leader, no nomad would have concrete jungle as their first home of choice. See if you can find out what’s the deal there, gonna really tell where they stand.” 

“Yeah, that is bugging me too. Thanks again!” She set off to her tent to get ready to head back to Clouds. The nomads in question were set to make an appearance for official introductions in an hour or so and she wanted to share the new info with V and Judy before they arrived. 

——

After quickly finishing work at Lizzie’s and driving up to Clouds, Judy found V stretched out on the couch in the main office. Was it now her office? She’d need to get used to that thought. 

“None of the beds downstairs to your liking?” She sat on the corner of the couch as the merc sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

“Those beds are not made for sleeping. Plus the doors don’t lock properly.” The merc yawned, standing up for a stretch. “How’s it downstairs? All quiet? I had alerts up but the setup is all new so bound to have a few glitches I need to iron out.” 

“All quiet up here in the Clouds,” Judy smiled at her friend. “Thank you, V. Really. I don’t know what I would’a done without you or Panam.”

“Don’t sweat it. Did it because I wanted to. We are chooms, after all, aren’t we?” He smiled back giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Plus, we have to follow through with this to the end. People depend on us.” His expression grew more serious. 

“I know, I have every intention to do so.” 

“Never doubted you for a second.” His expression softened again. “Speaking of following through, I’ve called every notable fixer in town last night, just to get a feel for where they stand on this. Good news - after that earlier Claws massacre you’ve conducted downstairs, they are all convinced you managed to hire a small army, although they don’t know who and where from. I decided I’ll let them keep that assertion for the time being.” 

“That’s good news, I assume. Hopefully, we will actually have a small army joining us from today. By the way, where did you get that turret in the lobby?” 

“Found an ambushed Militech transport a while back. Only the turret was salvageable. Thought I’ll install it in my new place, whenever I’d get one, but this felt more pressing. Why do you ask? Is something wrong with it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Jino is actually very happy with it, says makes her feel safer being out front. There is one odd thing about it though…” 

“Let me guess, it’s humming a tune and now it’s in Jino’s head and she can’t stop humming it too?” 

“Yes! I was there for 2 minutes and now it’s stuck in my head as well! Why on earth does it hum?”

“I used an updated version of Skippy OS, the smart gun I picked up a while back. It looks like the humming is now hard-coded, can’t get rid of it no matter how much I try. Changing the voice signature to female helped somewhat, but I see how it can get a bit annoying. I’ve installed the AI in Panam’s truck, she made me delete it the next day because of the humming.” 

They both laughed at the thought of the fearless nomad leader humming “bum bum be-dum bum” to herself. 

——

They joined Tom, Jino and a few of the dolls having lunch downstairs. Clouds officially opened in the evening, but many dolls held private sessions for clients who didn’t want to wait till the evening, for an extra charge, of course.

At the start, Judy noticed that V was quite awkward, quietly digging into his burrito without engaging in conversation much. It turned out that Skye, the doll that he met his first time here, was there as well. Judy actually talked to Skye about the merc’s visit and learned that the woman didn’t hold any grudges against V over him getting her in trouble with his questions. 

“Hey Skye, could you come over for a sec.” Judy motioned the woman over, to V’s shock. “Mind telling V what you told me the other day?” 

“Hi Judy, hi V!” The doll sat next to them, bringing her lunch of yakitori with her. “You mean about Woodman?”

Judy nodded.

“V,” Skye looked at the merc, prompting him to reluctantly meet her eyes. “If getting told-off and losing the money from our session was the price to pay for getting rid of Woodman and Maiko terrorising us, then it was worth it a hundred times over.” She put her hand over his hand resting on his knee. The merc jerked slightly but did not take the hand away, eventually relaxing completely. “So thank you, V.” 

Judy watched the exchange, with merc’s face looking as if he was the one expressing gratitude. She barely held back a laugh when a piece of burrito escaped the wrap and slid onto V’s leather jacket. 

Skye finished her lunch and excused herself to go get changed. Judy gently wiped the food off her friend’s jacket with a napkin before standing up herself. 

“Valerie and her crew will be here soon. Have you heard from Panam yet?” 

“Yeah, she texted me that she was on her way. Should be here any minute.” 

“Great, I am curious if she found out anything about our new partners from the Aldecaldos,” Judy said with a hopeful tone in her voice. Any validation that she’d made the right decision was very much needed right now. 

——

The Bakkers arrived promptly at 2 pm. 

They were dressed very differently than the classic nomad gear they donned the day before. Now, you could easily mistake them for a bunch of streetkids. This was surely done so they would better blend in with the club setting, minimising any unwanted remarks from the clientele and putting the dolls at ease. Judy couldn’t help but notice that Valerie looked as great in slacks and oversized top as she did in full nomad road gear. 

They all exchanged handshakes as if meeting for the first time. ‘First time as partners though,’ Judy thought. 

The techie motioned for them to relocate to her office, where an extra couch was set up to create a U-shaped booth where they could all sit comfortably while facing each other. 

As they settled, Judy introduced Tom, who was the only person in the room who hasn’t been fully introduced to the nomad crew yet. Valerie then took over, making introductions to her team. They, of course, exchanged names before, but now that they’d agreed to do business, more info was required. 

“Josh is our lovable giant.” Valerie gestured at the mountain of a man sat on the corner of the couch, as if trying to take as little space as his enormous form allowed. “As you may have guessed, he is the main muscle of the group, but don’t judge by the appearances - you won’t meet a nicer guy from here to Moscow.” As if to prove her right, Josh gave everyone the warmest of smiles, sheepishly waving his giant cybernetic hand in ‘hello’. 

“These two rascals are Ross and Rach. You would have noticed they are an item and a hopelessly cheesy one at that.” She made an exaggerated disgusted face, prompting scoffs from the introduced couple. “Ross is the best getaway driver you can hope for, as long as you don’t mind him blasting tunes while he drives. Rach is our sharpshooter. Can hit a target right in their Kiroshi’s from a few miles away, with the right rifle. Also has a great head for biz. Normally, she does all of our negotiations, but this is a bit of a special occasion for all of us.” 

Tom nodded happily at the last remark. Judy was also happy to hear that there will be a business-savvy person on the team. Between them, they would surely manage to make Clouds even more successful. 

There was one more person left to intrude, but the Bakkers’ leader kept quiet, instead looking at the older man, as if letting him know she had finished talking. Judy remembered what Panam told them before the other nomads arrived about Finch and his attitudes on authority. It became clear that Valerie held this man in a different kind of regard compared to her other clansmen, even though she clearly liked and respected every one of them. 

“I am Finch,” the silver-haired nomad introduced himself. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am fully committed to making this arrangement work. Since we are discussing our personal strengths, I am quite handy with a revolver.” 

“More like a gun-slinging wizard.” Rach butted in, prompting a collective chuckle from the rest of the group. Val gave her fellow nomad a nudge with her shoulder, prompting more laughing. 

Intros out of the way, Judy set out to run the group through immediate actions and respective responsibilities. 

“We have quite a few things to sort out as-soon-as-fucking-possible, but it’s good to hear many of you are capable in more ways than one.” She nodded at the nomads. “V and I will tackle any software issues, such as ICE and breach weak spots. Tom, you can take Josh around all of our entrances and exits to check if they are locked well-enough for physical breach.” 

Judy paused for questions or reactions, but the group was nodding in silent agreement so she continued.

“Tom, plus Jino and Roxy who also work here will be handling most of the doll-related business day-to-day. Rach and Val, we can talk about long-term plans with them at a later stage, but we should be good at the moment.” The two nomads and Tom agreed, so she went on. “In terms of space, this office will be our main meeting space for any discussions. Tom will occupy it most of the time and I will use it when I am here. Val, you and your crew can take the office downstairs - the one next to the elevator. There is a service room next to it you are more than welcome to convert into an armoury if you like.” 

Some of the nomads seemed surprised by her offer to provide them with their own space, although clearly in a good way. A wide smile graced Valerie’s face. 

“Thanks, Judy, you are most kind for letting us have our own space,” the Bakkers’ leader nodded. 

“In terms of our space allocations, here’s what we propose. Josh will man the front door; between him and that chatty turret of yours, nobody should have two thoughts about acting up.

Ross and Rach can handle the main area, I doubt we will need both of them there at once, but they can take turns unless it gets very busy. Finch can take the VIP area, he’s quite the sweet talker anyway.” 

Valerie pauses for a second to get her team to show their approval before finishing the allocations.

“Finally, I will not get myself holed out in the office, so I’ll be making rounds from time to time, just to make sure everything is okay with everyone. So please let the dolls know that if they see me, I am there to help.” 

Judy nodded. Valerie would certainly be a very, very different kind of security compared to Woodman. It was not a high bar to pass anyway. 

“Tom, are you happy with this?” The techie made sure everyone was on board here. 

“Yeah, this sounds like a good setup.” The male doll nodded eagerly. 

“Fan-tastic.” Valerie lit up with a content smile. “In that case, Bakkers - go introduce yourselves to everyone who works here. And make sure to upload your biometrics into the system, don’t want that cheerful turret to shoot you up when you clock in.”

——

The nomads and Tom left to tend to their respective duties and stations, leaving just Judy, Panam and V. 

“We can’t ignore the threat of the Tyger Claws. Just sitting on our hands over it is not gonna end well.” Panam decided to voice what all three of them were surely thinking. “We need to meet with them, at least to get a feel for what’s to come.” 

“Wakako can help us set up a meeting. She may be mostly neutral, but still has a lot of interest in the Tyger Claws.” V chipped in. 

“Are you sure it’s even safe to go near the Tyger territory? Nothing will stop them from shooting both of you on sight.” Judy frowned at them from across the couch. “Can’t you just call her?”

“This isn’t a holo kind of matter,” V responded before Panam could answer. “Plus me? I’ll be fine, it’s not like the first time I went against the Claws. They haven’t got the nerve to try anything yet.” His expression grew more serious as he looked at Panam. “You, my darling, on the other hand, may want to stay clear.” 

“No fucking way I am holding back from Claws’ street trash just because I shot up a few of theirs who tried to kill me, may I remind you?” Panam blurted out, clearly letting her burning emotion take the wheel. 

“Fineee, go get yourself in front of a bunch of Tygers then,” V huffed in frustration. 

“Fine, I will then!” 

“You two are worse than teenagers, I swear.” Judy shook her head at their childish bickering. She just hoped they would be able to put it to good use. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum... 
> 
> It’s always hard to introduce characters en-masse, so please bear with lack of action for this one. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think of the story so far.
> 
> Title: All the Pretty Faces by The Killers


	4. The Element of Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy, Panam and V are trying to figure out how to free Clouds from Tyger Claws influence. Valerie unveils some hidden talents that will come in helpful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit chunkier than usual, as I wanted to have the setup and the gig all in one.

The news really did travel fast in Night City. As soon as she stepped out of the car, Panam could feel eyes boring into her from all around the crammed Jig-Jig Street. She looked around, counting dozens of onlookers, some clearly affiliated with Tyger Claws, while others just looked like they didn’t want her there. In the heart of Japantown, she was better off assuming everyone was associated with the gang that quite likely had her towards the top of their hit list. 

Either way, she was here now and there was no point in hightailing. She breathed in and out slowly, calming herself. Most of these people were barely a threat anyway, even if they dared to attack the leader of the Aldecaldos and one of the most famed mercs in the city right on Wakako’s doorstep no less. ‘Nah, all they are good for is staring,’ the nomad thought. 

She glanced at her companion, wondering if he noticed the looks. Of course, he noticed - his hand hadn’t left the hover position over the gun holster since they got there. 

‘Is this how he always feels when stepping deep into gang territory, or is this just for me?’ Panam wasn’t sure which option she’d prefer. Perhaps V had a point about the danger of her coming along, but she was proud of him for keeping to his promise to let her choose the danger to get into out of her own accord. 

——

They entered a tiny, packed parlour, V carefully but firmly cleared the way through the crowd, ensuring she had enough space to follow him. As she followed the merc into what looked like a backroom, Panam suddenly found herself in an opulent, but elegant office. A stoic elderly woman who could only be Wakako Okada presided behind an intricate, antique-looking desk. The manner she regarded the newcomers showed that she felt in charge of far more than just this room or the parlour behind them, and rightfully so. 

“Wakako-sama,” V bowed, prompting a low bow from the fixer and a confused half-bow from the nomad. “Thank you for seeing us in person at this time.” 

“Always a pleasure to see you, V.” The older woman’s tone was calm and measured, betraying no emotion or a particular state of mind, which made her next remark that much more scathing. “I am surprised that you had brought this persona non-grata all the way here though. It is very unlike you to be so... _not prudent_.” 

Panam’s gut told her to keep her rising emotions in check - they were guaranteed to only make this discussion tenser. 

“And V,” the fixer continued. “I will not lie - the last job you did for me was a bit of a disappointment. I am sure you would agree, getting caught by a security camera is not considered being discrete.” 

“Who installs CCTV in a bloody supply closet?” V flared momentarily, before retaining his composure. “But you are right, Wakako-sama. I screwed up, the fee deduction was completely justified.” 

The fixer paused, lacing her fingers in front of her, as if she hadn’t already made up her mind on how to proceed with the discussion. 

“No reason to delay this further. I will hear you out.” 

“You are clearly the rightful owner of the title of the most pragmatic fixer, Wakako-sama,” V was really laying it on thick with the fixer. 

“Flattery will get you nowhere, V; but you know that already, so I appreciate the gesture.” A barely perceptible smile flashed on Wakako’s otherwise stern face. 

“We do not intend to waste your time with hollow flattery, Wakako-sama, nor with beating around the bush. We seek a way to resolve the conflict that arose with the changed state of Clouds, ideally without any more unnecessary bloodshed.” 

“Indeed, although it’s a bit late for avoiding violence, wouldn’t you say? It was unwise to meddle in the first place, even less so spilling so much Tyger Claw blood afterwards,” the fixer stated, very matter-of-factly. 

“They came to us! Armed to the teeth no less. What were we supposed to do, stretch our arms to the sides and let them shoot?” Panam bursted out, narrowly controlling herself from slamming both firsts onto the fixer’s desk. 

Wakako regarded her with a disinterested look, quickly shifting her focus back to V. This only agitated the angry nomad further, but V’s ever-maintained calm prompted her to restrain herself. 

“And now,” the fixer continued as if nothing happened. “You come to do what you should have done in the first place - seek to set up a negotiation.”

“You are correct,” V nodded, his voice perfectly composed. “We have no intention to give Clouds back, but we do not want to start a war with the Claws. Such conflict is bound to prove unnecessarily costly to both sides.”

Panam realised she was witnessing first hand a completely different side of V - the one she’d barely had any chance to witness given that the merc had always done all non-nomad gigs solo. Standing in front of her was a charming, calm, calculating mercenary that commanded respect and freely showed it in return to those who deserved it. If she needed any more proof of why V had managed to survive so long in this profession beyond luck and being good with a gun, this was it. 

“Indeed, Tyger Claws would win eventually, but at a great cost.” Wakako’s voice brought Panam back into there and then. “What proposition do you have in mind then?”

“Tyger Claws need to wash their hands off Clouds, permanently. What would it take for that to happen?” V wasn’t letting the fixer lock him into a commitment. 

Wakako went silent for a while, mild wrinkle movements on her forehead signalling a progressing chain of thoughts and calculations. Finally, she spoke.

“You have killed two high-ranking Tyger Claw bosses, so it’s a very tricky situation. However, we have located Cloud’s previous… administrator.” Panam noticed the brief tension that shot up V’s body with the mention of Maiko. “While none of her information could possibly be trusted, she inadvertently confirmed that you did not intend to kill them, which is helpful to your case.”

The fixer paused again, eyeing the two of them, waiting for any unwarranted reactions before continuing. 

“As it happens, I have an issue with a certain Claws boss, and its resolution may benefit both of us. Taki Kazo, the high boss that is considered the key overseer of a number of doll house businesses including Clouds has become… guarded to my influence. He seeks to cut me off from many Tyger Claw conversations, which is most displeasing.” 

From V’s expression, Panam figured that Wakako’s phrasing was a very strong understatement, but now she could finally see where this conversation was headed. 

“This is where our goals are aligned, V. If you help me gain intel to depose Kazo, I will be able to make sure that Clouds gets written off as one of his many failures.” The fixer paused, giving space for any reactions that never came. “All you’ll need to do is infiltrate their meeting place, a shrine in Westbrook, and place a wiretap in the main hall.” 

“Sounds like your usual gig, I have no problem with this at all.” The merc shrugged. 

Wakako leaned back in her chair with the mannerism of a snake, ready to pounce at her prey. “This will not be a usual gig though, you see, V. There should be no trace of your presence at the shrine. If any suspicion is raised, Kazo will likely switch the meeting place and the window of opportunity will close. This means no dead bodies, no guards ‘taking a nap’ and, the highlight, given your most recent work, no leftover camera footage.” 

The merc and nomad shuffled on their feet at the revelation. Nobody spoke for a while, Wakako giving them time to think. 

“We’ll get it done,” V spoke finally. 

“I hope so. It’s in your best interest that this works out, so I find you perfect for the job. The details should be in your inbox within 60 seconds.” 

——

V was quiet all the way back to the car, letting out a disgruntled scoff at no one in particular when they got back into Javelina. 

“What is it, V?” Panam raised an eyebrow. 

V suddenly jerked his head to look at her, as if he’d forgotten she was sitting next to him. 

“Oh, sorry, sorry. It’s nothing - just Johnny providing his pearls of grumpy wisdom.” 

“What’s with him now?!”

“In short, he concludes that I have a higher chance of wiping out the entirety of Tyger Claws than to sneak somewhere without any trace.”

“Ah, so he is back in his shitty mood, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he wasn’t nice about it, that’s for sure. However, he’s got a very good point here. We can’t mess this up and I am really not sure I can pull off an infiltration this clean.” He started the car. “Really need to think this through.”

——

Judy began to think this job could not be done. She’d gotten so used to the fact that V somehow managed to achieve the impossible every time, sometimes through sheer luck, often through a combination of skill and reality-bending levels of determination. 

Now, hearing the merc himself admit he wasn’t confident that his skills would be sufficient for this, and Panam just plainly stating she had no chance at all, the techie realised just how much this entire operation came to rely on these two. 

Employing the services of a fixer was out of the question too. The consensus came to a simple reality that none of the hired hands would be as involved or appreciate the stakes, so the level of commitment would never be sufficient. 

“Could really use another Flathead right about now, but…” V sighed, rubbing his temples. 

“... but you’ve got Militech riding your ass for any hint that it was you who raided that base and the train so jacking into any other piece of their kit may actually score us an orbital bombardment.” The nomad finished V’s thought for him. 

“I kinda miss being a nameless merc sometimes.” 

“Suffering from success, your highness?” Even in a situation like this, these two were sparring with each other. 

The trio turned when the door of the office swung open. 

“Personal delivery for Miss Alvarez!” Valerie walked into the room, a large box of cables in her hands. “Where do you want this, Judy?” 

Clouds’ head of security stopped, studying the three of them. “Watcha all gloomy for?” 

Judy shrugged, no reason to not tell her about this situation. “Just drop this on the table and come sit, we’ll fill you in.”

“Something tells me this isn’t about planning our grand re-launch party…” the Bakkers’ leader sighed, settling on the couch next to Judy.

——

“... and to top it all off, we have to do it without leaving a single body dead or even unconscious.” Judy finished re-telling the gig specs. 

“It sounds tough, but if you guys can handle the security cameras, I can do the sneaking” Valerie stated matter-of-factly while fiddling with a lighter.

“I am not doubting you or anything, but are you sure?” Panam looked intently at the other nomad. 

“I have a few party tricks that can help.” Valerie smiled and stood up, sliding her shoes off and taking a few steps back from the couch. 

Before anyone could react, her feet started to change shape, elongating and pushing the heels off the ground, leaving the nomad standing just on the forefeet and toes. 

Before Judy could fully figure out what was happening in front of her, V chipped in.

“Lynx paws, huh?” He let out an impressed whistle. “Those are rare, and costly. You must be really committed to stealth as your MO to go for those.” 

Val nodded, morphing her feet back into their normal state. 

“Bakkers never had the size or gear like the other clans, so we had to be smarter, sneakier. Since we are all chooms here now, I’ll let you in on a little secret.” She sat back down and leaned in a bit, as if to prevent someone else from hearing them but more so, Judy suspected, for the dramatic effect. “Title of ‘Quartermaster’ in Bakkers didn’t actually mean what it does for other clans. For us, being a Q-M meant you were in charge of the black ops.” 

“So you didn’t actually manage inventory or fuel, like one normally would as a quartermaster?” Panam was ready to call bullshit at the surprising revelation. 

“Nope, although I gotta tell you - it made the job easier to pretend I did. People lose interest very quickly when you start talking water allocations for next month.” Valerie chuckled at what must have been a funny memory. “I hope you didn’t hire me based on my supposed experience of counting chickens, did you?” 

“Of course not, although that could be a bonus,” Aldecaldo woman responded. 

“Well, don’t you worry about that - Rach was doing all of the actual counting and allocating, so you are not missing out on anything.” Val was clearly amused by this conversation. “In any case, I can assure you, managing skirmishes requires a lot of planning, people managing and calculating scenarios. Then again - of course, you two would know a lot about that.” She sent a knowing wink at V and Panam. Judy got flustered at being so obviously excluded from the remark. 

“We are getting distracted though.” Valerie now turned to Judy, clearly seeking her approval. “Do you want me to help, Judy?” 

The techie nodded eagerly, grabbing onto the lifeline that had just been extended to her. 

——

They couldn’t just go to the temple to get the lay of the land - it was teeming with Tyger Claws day and night. Some were there for strictly religious reasons, but most - clearly for business. Judy suspected the larger temple area was used as a front for many illegal operations, not just a secluded meeting place.

They also couldn’t just roll up to the place and try to sneak into it without some serious practice. One mistake would cost them the opportunity, and possibly result in another bloody shootout, either at the temple itself or at Clouds at a later point. 

On Judy’s suggestion, they turned the VIP area of Clouds into training grounds. Couches and shelves were moved to create a semblance of walls and hallways that looked like what they’d see inside the temple. 

V was to hack into the cameras and try to manually control them in such a way as to make it look like they are moving automatically while, in reality, creating blind spots to allow Valerie to sneak around them. That way he could also alert the woman to any movements from the guards. 

“Just don’t burn down our security system, we need it!” Judy was only half-joking with her warning to V. 

Valerie, in turn, had to navigate the maze from the entrance to the area, all the way up to the staircase to Judy’s office without being spotted. Judy would be watching through CCTV feeds and yell into their shared holo link if either V failed to convincingly pretend to be an automated camera or Val came into view. 

In the meantime, Panam and Rach went off to parley with Wakako further to try and get blueprints of the temple, particularly regarding any potential entrances and exits, as well as camera placements. V categorically refused to let his lover go on her own, which, predictably, was met with protests from her side. Judy defused the situation by suggesting that Rach would need to go meet with the fixer anyway, as a new business-side representative of the Clouds that the older woman hadn’t met yet. Panam reluctantly agreed to the logical reasoning; V was just happy he got his way. 

——

Judy closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. A headache was imminent. It had been hours of staring at the screens, watching the merc and the nomad practising the routines, never quite getting it right every time. 

It took V at least three tries to get the hang of moving cameras in a smooth motion, although even after a good two dozen tries, he’d still jerk slightly at any sign of motion. Once, he realised Val was about to come into view so tried moving the camera out of the way, but mixed up his lefts and rights and put the nomad right in the camera’s sights. Judy promptly informed them of the complete failure of their attempt. 

Valerie had her moments as well. She was doing great at navigating the spaces and finding good spots to get out of sight but completely forgot to check her sixes on most occasions. This made the camera that was hanging right above the stairwell entrance door her mortal enemy, as that was the main place she continuously failed to stay hidden, despite V’s best efforts to conceal her. 

They were about to give up for the day when a second wind took over them, possibly driven by the doughnuts Tom had brought over. V’s camera movements were indistinguishable from the automatic ones, while he also managed to successfully shield the nomad from a few close calls. Val, in turn, got extremely diligent, double-checking every entrance and often looking back at the cameras she’d recently passed to ensure she was out of sight. 

They finally managed to fully complete the run on what was meant to be the last attempt before dinner, which culminated with Valerie successfully navigating the entire club while staying in the cameras’ blind spots. She took it further by sneaking past the official finish line and right behind Judy’s office chair, scaring the living hell out of the techie and earning herself a smack on the head with an editing glove. 

They’ve done a few additional runs after dinner, which all turned out almost perfect. Spirits running high, the three of them said bye to Tom and others at Clouds and headed out, parting ways at the bottom of the stairs of the Megatower. 

Judy declined an invitation to join the other two for drinks with Panam and Rach who had also concluded their business. Being stuck in one room, staring at a screen all day had really worn her out. She found it rather surprising - in theory, this is exactly what she’d be doing most days down in the basement of Lizzie’s. On the other hand, BD-s were different. They were more immersive, tapped into all of your senses and were simply more fun than staring at gently panning camera feeds of empty rooms. 

She decided that when she got home, she would tinker with the new virtu tech she’d been working on for a while now. ‘Working to unwind from working, huh’ the techie smirked to herself as she hailed a cab. 

——

The next morning, Judy arrived a bit late to their meeting, but for a good reason. Humming happily to herself, she walked past Jino who smiled involuntarily at the techie’s joyful greeting. 

“Sorry I am late, but I brought presents.” Judy set a lidless box on the table in front of the others who had already gathered to go over the plan for their skirmish. Everyone was pretty confused at her intro, save for V, who had seen virtu scrolling gear before, courtesy of his many recent visits to Judy’s place.

“Is this some sort of comms gear, or something?” Panam looked at the Mox for explanations. 

“Great guess!” Judy propped her hands on her sides, feeling smug that she’d finally found a great way to contribute to the job. “This is virtu scrolling gear. I’ve been working on making them sync so you can scroll multiple people at the same time.”

At this point, even V was lost, as the three of them that hadn’t dealt with BDs as their passion and profession were struggling to follow.

“I still can’t stabilise the recording to work properly, but then I realised I don’t need it to work properly for us to still be able to use it.” She still got nothing in terms of comprehension from the others. With a sigh, she tried to dumb it down for them. “In short, we’ll use this to link up our thoughts together during the gig which will be much quieter and quicker to communicate with instead of a holo link.” 

The techie left an extra-long pause after her second attempt at an explanation to let the info sink in. 

“Aaah… So it’s like a holo but with your mind?” Valerie’s expression was still of intensive contemplation, but she was now nodding. 

“Pretty much, yep. If we all sync up, we will be able to hear each other’s thoughts and feel what each of us feel. Worth noting, before you start panicking that you’ll broadcast your every thought and itch to everyone, that this is only for strong thoughts or feelings. You’ll need to “think loudly” for others to be able to properly hear it. Anything you have a strong subconscious reaction to, like happy or sad memories will also come up.” 

“Will this work, given my, _y’know_?” V pointed at the side of his head where the ports, and the Relic, were. 

‘Damn, didn’t think of that,’ Judy thought, considering the question. “You have a second port, so you should be fine. We are not implanting anything right into your head anyway.” 

With the surprise part of the meeting out of the way, they got to discussing mundane things like driver allocations, rendezvous points and what will they do if the plan went to shit, which was a very real possibility. 

——

After the last check on the virtu sync, they’ve split up to take their respective locations. 

Judy and Panam settled high up on a nearby relay tower. The tower provided the nomad with a perfect vantage point for her sniper rifle, which would be the last resort in case everything went haywire. Judy could also make use of the high-speed connection to set up her monitoring station.

V was holed out in the back of the souvenir shop which, out of all places, was also a home to an exposed network node that let him access the camera feeds for the entire temple, which he then relayed to Judy’s computer. 

Valerie arrived in one of V’s more colourful Quadras that were common among the Tyger Claws, so as to not arouse unnecessary suspicion. This was to be their ride to the meeting point afterwards. 

‘How many cars does this guy have?!’ Judy thought to herself as she spied through her binoculars yet another vehicle that she’d never seen the mercenary drive before. 

The temple was very quiet and there were barely any guards around, which was great news. Everyone felt a unified sense of relief when Valerie snuck into the central building without any issue at all. 

The majority of Val’s route to the heart of the temple went without any issues. She had to hide inside a closet for a second to avoid being spotted by one of the guards who decided to take a rushed bathroom break, but the virtu link allowed V to signal Tyger’s arrival very quickly, giving the sneaking nomad plenty of time to get herself out of sight. The pair worked surprisingly well with this new tech that they’ve tried for the first time just that morning. 

Their luck started to run out quickly when Judy felt a nudge from Panam. When she looked up, the other woman pointed at the road leading up to the temple. Judy zoomed in on the moving objects to see a lavish limo with a convoy of bikes approaching. This must have been Kazo and his entourage. He was very early.

‘Fuck!’ Judy looked at the security feeds, seeing commotion rising all around the temple as everyone was hustling about before the sudden arrival of the Claws boss. 

_‘What is it, Judy?’_ Val’s thought echoed over the virtu link. 

_‘It’s Kazo, he’s early. Brought a large posse with him too.’_

_‘I knew it was going too smoothly!’_ Panam’s frustration could also be felt by all of them. _‘Val, how far are you from the room we need to bug?’_

_‘I am pretty much there, give me juuuust a sec. Voila! They will need Militech gear to find this sneaky bugger now.’_

_‘Great, now get the fuck out of there!’_

_‘Ummm… about that. See the cams…’_

Panam shuffled next to Judy to see the entrance to the central temple completely overrun by Tyger Claws. Val’s initial entry point was completely out of the question now, and so were their Plan-B and Plan-C options too. 

_‘Judging by the escalating sense of despair from you two I can only assume I am in trouble.’_ Bakker chuckled into the link. _‘We got any ideas? Cos I can’t see shit from where I am sitting.’_

_‘Give me a sec, I may have something.’_ V was clearly thinking in overdrive mode, sending a sort of mind static across the link as he ‘spoke’. _‘Ok ready. Val, remember the tall trees and bushes in the corner of the Japanese garden? On my signal, sneak yourself over there. Just remember everyone - whatever happens, don’t panic.”_

_‘Don’t you want to tell us a smidge more first??’_

_‘Let’s just say Tyger Claws are ‘bout to get pranked’_ with that V’s display name suddenly changed to ‘NoobMaster69’, prompting more confusion from the three women. 

Judy thought this was a bad time for surprises, but recognised that the merc just didn’t have the time to fill them in properly. She went back to intently studying the camera feed. 

In the next moment, the whole temple descended into complete chaos. The speakers started blasting techno-metal so loudly, it could be heard all the way up at the relay tower. Alongside the noise attack, all screens and news boards in the temple started flashing a series of images of crying tigers and insulting text blurbs before finally settling on one image that simply said “You’ve been PWNED by NoobMaster69, suckers!”

It was hard to hear anything the Claws were shouting at each other outside, but from the feed inside the security room, Judy could hear how one gangster was chewing out the other. 

_“What the fuck is this?”_ A clearly more senior Claw was pointing at one of the screens that now went back to flashing profanities

_“Just some kid fucking with our equipment boss, gimme a minute. Fucking prankster fucks!”_ The other man turned back to his computer, frantically typing in commands into a security console. 

_‘Val! Trees - now!’_ V’s thoughts had a great deal of urgency to them. 

Judy felt him straining and possibly panting - the merc was sprinting somewhere. This was followed by a strange sensation, similar to what you get in mid-jump on a trampoline, which was followed by a strain in the legs. V must have used his own leg implants to launch himself over the back wall of the temple. 

‘ _Hey, Val. Don’t take it the wrong way, but I’ll have to hold you tight if we are to make it over the wall. I’ll also need you to give us some boost with your lynx paws as well.’_

_‘Yeah, go for it cowboy. Get us out of here.’_

In the next moment, Judy felt a doubled feeling of two sets of hands wrapping against her body - which wasn’t actually her body, but the bodies of two of the others connected to her via the virtu link. While only subtly different, she could tell which of those was the feeling of Valerie’s hands. The feeling sent mild goosebumps throughout her body in places where the nomad’s hands would touch hers. A mild rush of excitement spread throughout techie’s body; she suppressed it as much as she could, hoping others on the link did not catch it. 

Right next to Judy, though, a completely different reaction was unfolding. A tangible aura of anger emanated from Panam which the angry nomad struggled to conceal, given this was the first time she was connected to any virtu, let alone a linked one. 

“See you at the rendezvous shortly!” If V felt any of this emotional commotion, he didn’t show it. 

Both V and Val cut off their links, with Panam disconnecting shortly after. Judy could see her friend sigh to herself while packing up the rifle. The Mox wanted to reassure her friend that this was just a necessary thing, but knew that if she was in this position herself, rational arguments would not be a solution. 

The techie hesitated for a second, considering whether she should save the virtu feed at all. She decided to save it in the end, giving herself a reason that it was a great sample to use for troubleshooting the new tech. She pretended to herself that there were no ulterior motives otherwise. 

——

Their two cars pulled up into the parking lot of an old gas station with a 2-3 minute gap. They walked a short distance away from the main building to avoid prying eyes and ears before calling Wakako. 

“Impressive work, I did not expect you to pull a truly flawless job,” the fixer admitted. “I already have enough intel to start stacking the cards in our favour.” 

Judy shared an elated smile of triumph with the rest of her companions. 

“I can only assume the instance of this juvenile prank that befell the temple right before you conducted your operation was a fortunate coincidence.” There was no way in hell Wakako did not figure out the connection, but given that Claws did not suspect any foul play beyond the ‘prank’, she clearly had no reason to implicate them. “I’ll be in touch soon.” 

“I know it may be too early to celebrate just yet, but this has been one hell of a stressful gig…. So I don’t know about you, but there is definitely a bottle of tequila with my name on it.” Valerie stretched, starting to walk back to the cars.

“Count me in!” Judy raised her hand, following the nomad. “Actually, how about we celebrate at this cabin nearby I happen to have keys to?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, some of the stressful bits are out of the way.
> 
> Title: The Element of Surprise by The Last Shadow Puppets
> 
> Edit: removed snippet for the next chapter from the notes as that wasn’t how the next chapter played out.


	5. Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Panam and Judy have a heart-to-heart about V.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There will be mention of suicide and depression - pretty much covering what’s in the game. I will leave a short summary in the end notes if you’d like to catchup on what happened instead of reading the full chapter. 
> 
> This will be a relatively shorter chapter, mainly because it felt distracting to add anything on either side of this conversation.

It was a beautiful morning. Panam couldn’t help but pause for a second as she stepped out of the cabin, two cups of coffee in hand. The water shimmered brilliantly in the morning sun, air was at that perfect temperature that both woke you up with its coolness, but also promised a warm day. 

After a brief look around, she spotted Judy sitting on the pier, looking into the distance.

“Hey,” the nomad said very quietly, not to startle her friend. Judy turned to her, smiling in greeting. 

“You forgot this in the kitchen.” Panam offered one of the mugs to the techie, who accepted it with a grateful nod. She joined the other woman on the pier, settling in a cross-legged position. 

“Thank you, Pan.” 

They shared a moment of content silence, both taking a satisfying sip of the hot beverage. 

“Can’t believe we managed to pull it off in the end.” Judy finally spoke. “Do you think Wakako will come through?” 

“V trusts she will. She has little reason to pull a sneaky one on us with the Clouds.” Panam shrugged. “I guess we may have some news when our sleepyhead decides to finally wake up and check his phone.” 

They both laughed - V always went from either no sleep at all, or sleeping in, and today was certainly promising to be the latter. 

“We are lucky that Val is so good at sneaking.” Judy thought out loud.

“Yeah, real lucky…” Memories of the feelings synced between the four of them returned to Panam, sending an uncomfortable shudder down her spine. She rubbed her sides with her hands as if to wash off the residual remnants of it. 

She noticed Judy had turned around and was now studying her intently. 

“Pan, are you jealous of V with Valerie?” 

The nomad almost choked on her coffee, needing a second to recover and compose herself before she could say anything. She tried to hide her bewilderment but figured that the techie had probably seen enough of her reaction already. 

“What? Why do you ask?” 

“I could feel how you reacted when they had to embrace for the jump. Although, to be honest, I probably didn’t need our feelings to be synchronised to see that you were angry and upset back at the tower…” There was no accusation in Judy’s voice, just concern. 

“I… don’t know, I guess, at the time? I did not expect to feel it so… real. And you said that only strong feelings would translate, did that mean that they both felt strongly about it? Why did he even ask her through the link, rather than just asking out loud?” Panam started rambling, as the multitude of things she kept thinking about since yesterday started to spill out. 

The feeling of Judy’s hand touching her knee calmed the nomad down a bit, giving her enough of a pause to compose herself again. 

“What if… I am not enough, Jude?” 

“What on earth are you talking about?” Judy looked genuinely shocked and confused. 

“I don’t know, I just feel like… I ask a lot of him, all the time. From the moment we met, he was helping me. Even when I helped him with Hellman, he ended up helping me save my friend in the middle of that. And now, I am asking him to be like us, living in a tent and dealing with all the nomad shit, while barely giving anything back in return.” She felt a sob coming up, so paused for a second to force it back down, at least for the time being. “What if he decides that that’s not the life he wants to live?” 

“Oook… Before we get into unpacking all of that, I got to ask. Have you talked to him about any of this?” 

The nomad looked down, pretending to find the patterns that coffee grounds made at the bottom of her cup very fascinating. After a long moment, she shook her head. 

“You two should  _ really  _ start talking about shit like this, he is exactly the same.” 

Panam could only wince at the remark. She and V agreed that they would do that, and they kind of did, but this felt like a  _ big-fucking-deal _ and she wasn’t sure how to even bring it up. ‘ _ Hey V, how’s it going darling? So, are we good, or are you gonna leave me for someone less high-maintenance?’  _

“Right, sorry. This isn’t the time or place for us to get into that.” Judy sighed. “Pan, look at me. You are an  _ amazing  _ human being. You are smart, selfless, caring, brave-as-fuck and absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. If only you played for the other team, I’d be all over you for all of these reasons and a hundred more.” 

The techie grinned when the last comment prompted an involuntary smile from the nomad. 

“I mean it, Pan. You are the Queen of the Highway for god’s sake!” Panam shushed at her overly excited friend - they didn’t want company for this conversation. 

“ _ Sorry,” _ Judy whispered before continuing quietly. “All I mean is that you are really selling yourself short. And that includes what you give him too. Not like I would know much about that in practice, but my abuelita always said that solid relationships are more than just giving and taking, the opposite in fact. She said true love is giving without getting in return, in giving what is not owed, what is not due the other.”

She paused, blushing at her own little monologue. 

“And you know what, Pan?” 

“What?”

“If my abuelita was correct, and she always is on these matters, that gonk really, really loves you.” 

Panam’s heart fluttered at the thought, the memory of V’s voice speaking  _ those _ three words replaying in her head. She realised she was sitting with her eyes closed, swaying a bit while lost in the positive memory. She glanced back at Judy, who was just sitting there, giving her the time she needed. 

“But what was that about me selling myself short on what I give him?” 

“You give him a reason to keep living.” 

“I… what?!”

“You shoulda seen him before. Of course, he was always the snarky, cocky V that we all know and love, but I could just tell he had this void behind his eyes… I swear sometimes he’d drift off in thought and the cheerful mask would fall and he looked like the saddest man in the world…” 

Judy paused as if composing herself for what she was about to say next.

“V was… in a very dark place after that AV job you guys pulled, although I didn’t know why at the time. Rita had to drag him into my den for an intervention after he’d gone through a bottle of tequila in less than half an hour… I swear, I thought I’ll have another Evie on my hands any day… I let him crash on my couch that night, just to keep an eye out and keep him away from his arsenal.” A tear rolled down the woman’s cheek, which she wiped swiftly. 

“And then, I found out about what really went down at the heist: the death of his friend, the chip, Johnny, Arasaka, all that shit. He told me more about meeting with Hellman, how the corporat both gave him a death sentence and cut off his main lead to getting rid of the chip... V is the unluckiest fucker in this city, and the bar is bloody high on that one...” 

Judy sniffed lightly, wiping another tear. 

“Sorry, did not mean to make this into a Greek tragedy. What I am tryin’ to say is - he looked like he was gonna call it quits, and then suddenly he didn’t. It was clearly not the chip because he still had his episodes and Johnny with him. I couldn’t figure out what kind of miracle happened until he started talking about this amazing woman he’d met… Then it all made sense.” 

She smiled, like a ray of sunshine after a rainstorm. 

“Also, in case you still have any doubts - the first thing he did after waking up from that hellish BD was ask if you were okay. And then you called, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so happy to answer a phone call before.”

The merc never told her about his struggles after the Hellman job, or how he felt then. Hell, he didn’t tell her about the relic until he passed out right in front of her in the middle of the camp. She was glad that her love’s been doing better now but knew that this wasn’t a thing that would just go away so easily. After all, he still had that chip in his head and no solution on how to fix it yet. She just hoped that he would let her know if he was thinking of doing something reckless… 

“Pan, you okay?” 

Panam realised she hadn’t made a nod, let alone said anything for the whole time Judy’s been talking. She shook her head as if to wake herself up after dozing off.

“Never better, Jude.” She stood up, helping the other woman up as well before embracing her in a tight hug. “Thank you, truly.”

Judy returned the hug. “Any time, sister. I just want you two to be happy, even if you are both being idiots about it.” 

Panam smiled, thinking ‘Here’s that trademark Alvarez life advice - lots of wisdom, with plenty of scolding.’ She held the techie tighter for a second before releasing her. 

“What now?” 

“Now we go wake up our two sleepyheads and get going. I bet V has a missed call from Wakako already.” 

“Don’t you want to go…  _ talk  _ to V? I can get Val out of the house if you want?” Judy shot her a mischievous look. 

“Let’s just get this done,” the nomad laughed. “But I am definitely stealing your keys to this place once this is over!” 

Judy made for the kitchen to make more coffee while Panam went to wake up the other two, pausing to admire how peaceful her merc looked in his sleep before pulling the blanket off him with a grin. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was meant to be a completely different chapter, but it felt right to put this here so I can focus on the wider group dynamics and give Judy-Val some bandwidth as well. 
> 
> Summary of the chapter:
> 
> \- Judy asks Panam if she is jealous of V & Val  
> \- This opens up floodgates on wider worries Panam about V and their future  
> \- Panam is afraid she is asking too much of V while not giving much back  
> \- Judy dispenses some Alvarez family wisdom on relationships and love and reassures the nomad that she helped V find a reason to go on and that she is the only one for V  
> \- They decide to get back to check if there were any news from Wakako
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the read!
> 
> Title: Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me by London Grammar


	6. Cigarettes & Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Tyger Claws threat addressed, everyone finally gets to relax and celebrate, so Bakkers invite everyone over to party at theirs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plenty of dialogue and little bits of character interactions here, as well as some big conversations as well. 
> 
> I was too eager to post this chapter, so this didn’t go through my wonderful beta reader. If you spot any mistakes - please let me know!

“I am sure we’ve seen this billboard before.” Panam raised an eyebrow at V. “Are you positive that you can read the map properly?” 

“I can follow the directions! Except where they say we should turn, the entrance just isn’t there!” 

They were on their way to the Bakkers’ place, which apparently was an ‘ex-commercial building’ as Valerie described it in her message which also included the co-ordinates, that somehow were not helpful anyway because this place was impossible to find. 

They were celebrating the conclusion of the Clouds-Tyger Claw saga. Wakako really came through on her side of the deal - in less than a week, news of Kazo losing his status and any favour from the higher ups was common knowledge. And just yesterday, Claws’ envoy arrived at Clouds alone, presenting Judy with a katana as a sign of mutual respect and peace, or so the fixer said when they called her for an explanation. Nobody had any intention to question what happened and how exactly, they all just accepted the fact that their troubles with the gang were over. 

V slowed the car down to a crawl and shut down the radio before finally spotting the narrow passage that the nav had completely missed. 

They approached what looked like an abandoned warehouse. 

“I heard warehouse conversions are all the rage these days.” Panam whistled, looking at the dilapidated building. 

“Nobody says that.” V scoffed while looking for the button hidden somewhere on the side of the gate. “Ah, here it is!” 

The door slid up with a surprisingly smooth motion, as if someone had actually oiled it recently. Instructions from Valerie were to not get discouraged by the first room they see and continue deeper into the building. Still unsure if this was some sort of prank, the couple continued. 

They figured they were heading the right way when they were met by two security turrets and started to hear music coming from somewhere deeper inside the building. 

By the time they got to the last set of double doors, they could hear laughter and smelled what could only be grilled meat. Panam almost leaped through, unable to wait any longer to join in. It’s been ages since she’d been to a good party that wasn’t held at the Aldecaldo camp. 

“C’mon V, keep up the pace!” 

——

The best way to describe the place was ‘an indoor nomad camp’. Panam spotted all the key elements: canteen, medbay, armoury, garage and so on. Shipping containers that stood around the area were fashioned into living quarters, while the grill lived in what looked like an engine bay that once belonged to an Alvarado, judging by the huge wheel arches. And, of course, no nomad camp would be complete without a campfire. Very tall ceilings allowed for fire to burn without immediately choking the inhabitants, while conveniently smashed-in windows surely helped with the airflow. 

“Cosy place you have here, feels almost like something one can find on the open prairie.” she said to the other nomads after they were done with the usual greetings.

“Can take the nomad out of the Badlands, never the Badlands out of the nomad.” Ross answered with a smug grin. 

“Even some improvements to the normal camp - these containers sure are sturdier than the tents.” V hit the nearest metal box with a palm of his hand, as if any proof was needed that it was more solid than the tent fabric. “Pan, maybe I should get us one of these for our camp.” 

Panam made a mocking face at the merc for the silly remark, but it did not escape her that he called it _‘their’_ camp. 

“If you think they help with the noise, they don’t.” Val side-eyed Ross and Rach, prompting a snicker from the couple. “Keep laughing you two! You ain’t the ones who had a late shift!” 

“Don’t you want to move to like, a flat or something?” Jino’s question was clearly genuine, the woman haven’t met a nomad before this lot. Panam heard Josh telling her about their way of life when he and Jino were working front of house at Clouds From nomad’s own experience with V, she knew there was a lot for city dwellers to learn and understand. 

“Oh, we tried, honey. Just didn’t sit with us.” Rach chimed in. “This place used to be a scav haunt that we were asked to clear. When we saw how well they holed up in here, we thought that this would work for us. After all of the bodies were cleared out and scrubbed the place clean, that is.” 

Jino shuddered at the mention of bodies, the woman was clearly still distraught from the events at Clouds, even though the nomads and others did all they could to clear out everything before the staff and dolls returned. 

“Ok, no more talk of bodies, scavs or any shit like that. It’s a party, after all! Panam raised a cup that V had deftly placed in her hand just a moment before. “To the liberation of Clouds!”

“To the liberation of Clouds!” the group repeated in unison, raising glasses and bottles high. 

“Starting the party without me, I see?” Judy joined the circle, pretending to be mortally offended. 

“Your fault for being late, girl!” Panam shot back. 

“We’ll just have to toast again! I brought the others and we picked a few stray nomads on the way too!” 

Judy pointed at the entrance, where stood Finch, Josh, Tom and Roxy, who all came straight from Clouds. Mitch and Cassidy were also with them, the two were very keen on meeting the Bakkers so Panam invited them over. 

As the latecomers approached, they were promptly given a beverage of their choosing. Quite a few people needed to be introduced to each other, so Panam just gave a quick name and affiliation rundown before instructing everyone to not be shy and chat. 

She was glad to see that everyone took to her suggestion, with different people mixing, rather than sticking in their own little cliques. Ross volunteered to show some of the Clouds crew around the place - for them this was a complete novelty. The other two Aldecaldos were busy chatting with Finch, who looked genuinely pleased to see Cassidy again. Everyone else dispersed around the fire pit, already talking and laughing about this and that.

She spied Jino and Josh sitting together, the girl intently listening to the big guy talking about the significance of the campfire to the nomads. 

“He likes her, a lot.” Valerie joined Panam in watching the rest of their friends. 

“How do you know?” 

“He’d had a crush on me for years, back when we were running with the clan. We cleared the air out ages ago, but I can still see his tells.” Val took a sip from her beer. “I bet she will have a fresh flower on her desk almost every day from now on.” 

“I’ll take your word for that.” Panam chuckled, thinking back to a few people at her own camp, whose habits and quirks she could recall perfectly. “But where does he get fresh flowers around here, or anywhere for that matter?”

“He grows them.” Bakker crossed her arms, clearly proud of her comrade. “His ma was a herbalist, somehow managed to save some pre-war plants intact through the years. Made him swear he’d continue, he will never break that promise.” 

“You guys are full of surprises.” Panam gives the other nomad a friendly poke with her elbow. “I am glad I’ve met you.” 

“So are we, myself more than anyone to be honest.”

“How’s so?” 

“Story for another time, perhaps.” Valerie’s expression turned slightly distant, as if she was remembering something she hadn’t thought about for a while, or didn’t want to think about; so Panam decided not to press any further. 

“Should we join the others?” 

“After you, my most esteemed guest!” 

——

The barbeque that followed was a huge hit with everyone. 

Tom joked how the elevator in his building may not lift him while grabbing his third portion; both V and Mitch kept badgering Josh about his secret sauce which the other man apologetically, but firmly declined to disclose, citing a family secret. V responded in the most V way possible - by threatening to hack it out of the guy’s head, getting a prompt smack on the back from Panam for it. 

Liquor was poured freely. Soon the discussions, laughter and songs became louder, although people started to bunch up in smaller groups as conversations diverged. 

Pan found herself joining V and Finch, discussing something that looked serious, if their expressions were anything to go by. 

“... that’s a tricky one, Finch.” V was rubbing his chin, clearly considering something weighty. 

“Am I interrupting?” Panam leant in carefully. 

“No, not at all miss Palmer. I have no qualms with sharing this with you as well.” 

“Thank you. It’s just Panam by the way. What’s wrong?” 

“Finch has a brain tumor. Apparently it was small, but aggressive when they checked it properly last, way back at the Bakkers camp, which was a while ago….”

“... and with far-from-ideal equipment.” Aldecaldo chieftess added, fully aware of the shortcomings of her own medbay setup. 

“You are indeed correct, on both accounts. We haven’t managed to find a ripperdoc in Night City yet who was in our price range and was willing to check it thoroughly.” Finch nodded solemnly. “All they showed us is that it may have increased in size, but they wouldn’t remove or probe it further.” 

“Not surprised, most are more than happy to put shit in your head, but taking it out - oh no!” V made an exaggerated panicked gesture with his hands. “I have a unique situation myself, so I understand how difficult it can be.” 

Pan wanted to ask if Vic could help, but decided against doing so herself, choosing to let the merc offer his friends’ services if he so wished. She could always ask him to do so later - she wanted to help this man. 

“A friend of mine is an awesome ripper. Saved my life when my rel…eh, cybernetics started to try to fry my brain. He is an absolute brain wiz since he managed to save my ass, I am sure he can help with your tumour, Finch.”

“Really? You’d do that?!” The older man was genuinely surprised by the unprompted offer.

“Yeah, ‘course. I’ll make a call tomorrow morning, give him your details.”

“I will be eternally grateful, V.” The nomad reached out to shake V’s hand with both of his. 

Aldecaldo chieftess wrapped her hand around her man’s shoulders, giving him a grateful squeeze. 

——

A short while later, Panam was on her way out to catch some fresh air when she spotted V by the bar on his own. With a sigh, she decided this was as good a time as any to talk to him about _them._

“Hey V, want to join me for some air and a chat?” She called over.

“With you - always!” he gave her a soft smile, wrapping a hand around her as he stepped next to her, matching her walking speed. 

“Like, a chat-chat.” Pan stopped for a second, waiting for his response to give him an out if he wanted it. 

“Oh… Sure, of course.” The merc swallowed. “Am I in trouble?” 

“No, not at all.” She let out a genuine chuckle. “I just want to talk about _us_. Like we said we will, when we felt like we should?” 

“Phew, scared me there for a second. Yes, absolutely. This is as good a time as any. Lead on!” V smiled. 

They stepped out into what looked like a loading bay, night air gently washing over them. Panam was glad she was able to breathe something different than the smell of grilled meat and charred wood for a bit. 

“So…” she turned to the man with a sigh, unsure where to start when V took her hands in his, giving her a reassuring smile. “Right, it’s hard for me to even think about this, let alone say it out loud to you…. buuut… I may have been kinda jealous of you and Valerie the other day, at the temple when you, you know…” 

She felt the merc squeeze her hands a bit tighter, his smile getting replaced with apologetic shock. 

“Oh my, no Pan, that wasn’t… I didn’t mean to…” He started mumbling, as if his thoughts got caught in each other. 

“Relax, I know, I know. You are just too damn polite at times, and we were all not used to that virtu link thing. Not between four people that’s for sure.” She gave him a smile to show they was okay. “But that didn’t change the fact that I did feel that way… Which led to other, deeper thoughts that were not great, so… Long story short I had a bit of a panic episode in front of Judy so she told me a few things to set me straight.” 

There was a pause. Panam wasn’t sure if she should continue or let V ask the questions he wanted to know answers to. Figuring that the merc was waiting for her to continue, she did. 

“I was worried, and still am, but not as much - thanks to Judy, that I demand too big of an effort and don’t give nearly enough for you; with the nomad life, and my own baggage, and the rest, y’know.” She was looking at the floor, gently kicking pebbles scattered around her foot. 

“Pan…” V gave a nervous chuckle. “Please trust me I am not joking, but I was feeling exactly the same way. Like I was getting too much for you. Except I had Misty’s ear to talk off with this instead… She caught me after my visit to Vic’s and just asked about it, and then it just kind of… flooded out. _Too damn perceptive, that one_.” 

He mumbled that last line to himself, but the nomad heard, and laughed lightly - what V said was very true. She’d only met the woman once, but could already tell there was something different about her. 

“So does that make us even then?” She raised her eyebrow. 

“I somehow feel like both of our friends would give us a scolding for turning this back into transactions…”

“Oh, there you are right. So what then?”

“You are seriously asking a merc to come with a non-transactional arrangement?” V teased. 

“And you think a cargo-running nomad is any better, huh?” Panam shot right back, prompting a hearty laugh from both of them. 

“Fine,” he relented. “How about partners then?” 

Panam’s heart swelled at the thought of that. She hated the word ‘output’ and ‘girlfriend/boyfriend’ felt juvenile. ‘Partner’ was perfect, because this is exactly what they were, from the very beginning. She pulled on V’s jacket, drawing him in for a deep, passionate kiss. 

“I like the sound of that,” she whispered when they parted after a while. “What about lovers though? Can we be lovers at the same time too, or is that not allowed?” She faked a concerned reaction to her own question. 

“Oh, that is _definitely_ allowed. Hun-dred percent.” V nodded eagerly. 

“Great, glad we are on the same page… partner.” Panam whispered before kissing him again. 

Suddenly, her holo vibrated - someone was trying to push through the do-not-disturb. She gave it a quick bump through the pocket to shut it up, but the holo rang again a moment later. 

“ _Forfucksake”_ She mumbled under her breath, reluctantly answering the call on audio-only mode. 

“Saul, what do you want? Didn’t I say I was taking the night off today?” V was still wrapped around her as she spoke, gently kissing her neck. This was immensely distracting, but there was no way she would tell him to stop. 

“All you seem to do is take nights off these days! And where are Mitch and Cassidy?” The older leader was clearly in a foul mood. 

“They are with me. And before you ask, _I_ let them have the night off. I can do that too.”

“Sure you can, but the night off is over, for all of you. Drag your asses back to camp, we have a Raffen situation.” 

Panam leaned back, trying to get a view inside the building to see what her two nomad comrades were up to. When she saw Cassidy drop on his ass trying to limbo under a car lift, she shook her head.

“Don’t think either of them are gonna be much help at the moment. Can I take V instead?” She looked at the merc, quietly mouthing ‘sorry’. He mouthed back ‘it’s okay’ before returning to his previous activity, much to her delight. 

“Fine, but tell the other two they better be back at the camp by morning, or you are in deep shit.”

“Why me?!”

“You let them off, you are responsible. Leadership perks, Panam.” Saul hung up. 

‘ _What snake crawled into his breeches?!’_ She scoffed, before another wave of soft kisses brought her right back into a blissful state. It was impossible to stay agitated at anything when _that_ was going on. 

“V, Saul wants us back at the camp. Raffen trouble, apparently. He sounded serious, or just pissed off somebody was having a smidge of fun, I can’t tell anymore.” 

“Sure thing. You go, I go.” He landed one last kiss on her cheek. 

“Are you good to drive though?” Panam checked herself, realising that she was still a bit too tipsy. 

“Nope, but I’ve already pinged Del to send us one of his cars. By the time we get there, we’ll be golden.” 

“Will his cars be fine in the desert though?” 

“He’s been working on a ‘safari’ variant. The demand for Badlands sightseeing is on the rise, apparently.”

“‘City people are weird…” Nomad scoffed. “Fine, let’s go say our goodbyes to everyone and head out. Don’t want to give Saul any more reasons to be pissed off about.”

When they came closer, she scanned the main group, not finding the two people she wanted to see the most before she left.

“Hey, V. Do you see Judes and Val anywhere?”

——

Judy was dying for a smoke. On one hand, she was upset at re-starting again after almost quitting, smoking only in stressful situations, or when she had something to feel good about. ‘Weird logic, Jude - just say you smoke when you feel like it.’ Ev used to tell her. 

In the past few months, however, there were so many damn-fucking-stressful situations that she was smoking pretty much every day. This time though, it was for the other reason. She forgot when was the last time she smoked because something turned out well. 

She found Val the least occupied with conversations or games that everyone else was eagerly participating in, so she asked the nomad leader where was the best place to get some fresh air. 

“The roof, of course. I can show you the way, but on one condition.” Val smirked mischievously. 

Judy answered with an unamused rise of an eyebrow. What game was the nomad playing?

“Oh, c’mon. Don’t be like that - I just wanted to tag along, ‘s all.” Val winked at her. “If that’s okay with you.” 

“That would be great, actually. Would never say no to good company.” Judy smiled, following the other woman’s lead towards the stairs into the office section of the building. 

——

“Want one?” the techie offered her cigarette pack to the nomad, who shook her head in response. 

“I don’t smoke, just here for the good company.” It didn’t slip Judy’s attention that her own innocent compliment was just used back at her. 

The cigarette lit up on the first try. Judy wasn’t superstitious, but it always gave her a little cheer-up when small things like this happened. 

“Thanks for hosting us, Val. It looks like you managed to build a nomad camp in the middle of Night City - pretty sure that’s a first.” 

“That’s the least we could do. You gave us a job with a purpose, everyone else just tried to use us to get ahead themselves, often at our expense.” 

“I can definitely relate to that… This city only takes and takes.” Judy took a long drag from her cigarette. 

“It’s not a _proper-proper_ nomad camp, of course, but is it your first time around one?” 

“Yes, it is. Why?” 

“It’s just… I assumed you would get to see the Aldecaldo camp first.” 

“Oh… you mean Panam’s? To be perfectly honest, I never asked, and I know nomads are not the biggest fans of outsiders. I am sure Panam would be happy to have me over, especially now that I’ve met a few others.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to insinuate anything. Just glad we got to be your first.” Valerie chuckled awkwardly, probably realising the dual phrasing he’d just used. 

“How was your camp in the wilds?” Judy thought it was best to divert the subject a bit. 

“It was great, a hundred times better than what we have here, honestly. In the outlands, you have so much space, you can use it however you like. We could spread things out, so you always felt the freedom by not being constrained by planning permissions or any sort of walls or who owns what land…” The nomad trailed off, reminiscing at things gone by. “Unfortunately, all of that’s in the past. At the moment, this is as good as it gets.” 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to bring up sad memories.” Judy gave Val an apologetic look, she knew how painful it could be to open up old scars.

“Oh no, not at all. It’s all good. Don’t worry about it. I am truly over all of those previous-life commitments, whatever or whoever they may be.” 

“Whoever?” Judy’s ears perked up at the mention of a potential someone in Valerie’s life. 

“Ah yeah, was engaged at some point. Even naive enough to offer the bastard to come with us to Night City. He had other plans. Thought Snake Nation will make him a big shot. Fool…” Valerie chuckled, but her expression clearly showed shades of anger and old grief. “It’s all in the past now, anyway.” 

“ _He, huh…_ ” Judy whispered to herself, perhaps too loudly.

“As I said, old news. There is someone else I have my eyes on.” Valerie stepped a bit closer to her. 

“Oh? And who is that?” Judy carefully met the nomad’s eyes with hers. 

“You, Judy. I am very, very much into you.”

Valerie’s unapologetically direct answer was like a gush of air that forced Judy to step back a bit, holding to the rail to keep her steady. 

“Sorry, was that too forward?” Val stepped back herself, giving Judy plenty of space between them. 

“That certainly was _pretty damn forward,_ but it’s okay.” Judy caught her breath, which had suddenly left her a second ago. 

“I apologise, it just kind of came out that way. I wasn’t planning to say anything tonight.” The nomad averted her eyes. 

“Ah, so the rooftop setting, us alone here… not part of your elaborate plan then?” Judy teased to ease the tension while also buying herself some time to process everything and decide what to do next. 

“I wish!” Valerie laughed, but then her expression turned serious again. “Will you tell me if it’s mutual though?” 

Judy was expecting this question, given the blunt display of openness from a moment ago. She scrolled through a lot of options how to respond to that, finally settling on the most honest one. 

“Val… I don’t know if I can give you an answer right now. There was so much shit going on in the past few months, I am not sure I am ready to commit to anything with someone just yet…” 

There was a long pause, but it somehow didn’t feel heavy or awkward; it was a moment of reflection for both of them. 

“Thank you for an honest answer,” Val said with a sad smile. “Do you want to tell me, about all the shit that happened? I am here if you want to talk.” 

“Here, now? Are you sure? Won’t it dampen the mood of the party?” If Judy was honest with herself, as this saga of Clouds started to come to an end, she actually needed to talk to someone about all the different things that started to click in place in her head, often creating more chaos as they did so. Somehow she felt that Valerie would be able to understand her, and the rooftop was an ironically perfect place for it too - a repeat of _that time_ on the roof with V, after… So much has happened since then. 

“We can always have another party.” The nomad shrugged. She sat on an air duct pipe, leaning forward, as if to let Judy know she was ready to listen. 

“Ok, but remember - you’ve been warned!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, a huge THANK YOU to all of you for sticking with me so far. All the amazing comments are a great motivator to keep going and push the story along. 
> 
> You may have noticed the maximum chapter count has been updated - this story is soon coming to its natural conclusion. There will be one last ‘proper’ chapter followed by an epilogue. 
> 
> Title: Cigarettes & Feelings by The Haunt


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